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'Sweet Thames! Run softly'

Image credit: National Trust Images

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The title of this work derives from Edmund Spenser's 'Prothalamion' (1596). Nymph-like figures adorn a meadow along a riverbank, some gather flowers in their wicker baskets for a bride and groom. Two swans approach and a child leans over about to place a garland of flowers on one of them: Two fairer birds I yet did never see; The snow which doth the top of Pindus strow Did never whiter show, Nor Jove himself, when he a swan would be For love of Leda, whiter did appear… Against their bridal day, which was not long: Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song. This is a painted Victorian interpretation of Spenser’s marriage poem by the female illustrator and calligrapher who married Arts and Crafts enthusiast, and later Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Sydney Cockerell.

National Trust, Bradley Manor

Newton Abbot

Title

'Sweet Thames! Run softly'

Date

c.1900

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 39.5 x W 62 cm

Accession number

830849

Acquisition method

accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of inheritance tax and transferred, 2002

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

National Trust, Bradley Manor

Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 6BN England

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