Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London

Portraits and the pandemic: Thinking about love stories in unusual times

Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London November 13, 2021 – March 13, 2022

When I reviewed the prospectus for the new touring exhibition Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London in early 2020, COVID-19 was in the news, but the reality of a global pandemic had yet to be felt in Massachusetts. Months later, when the decision was made to host the exhibition at WAM, we were not only acutely aware of how our lives had been changed by the emergence of a novel virus—but also that love had become a very important theme for our unusual times. Love Stories embraces an inclusive definition of love and celebrates a broad spectrum of relationships over several centuries of portrait-making. These images—in a variety of mediums—are especially poignant at a time when many of us have been compelled to keep a distance from loved ones and, in the most tragic cases, have experienced great suffering and loss. We still rely on pictures—today digital photos and video rather than oil painting—to sustain our relationships. These images serve as reminders of happier times when we could enjoy each other’s company without apprehension. One particularly moving object in the exhibition is a bronze cast (above) of the clasped hands of the British literary couple Robert Browning (1812– 1889) and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 –1861). The act of holding hands can be mundane under normal circumstances, but when I viewed this cast during lockdown, I saw it as an extraordinary gesture. The Brownings’ bronze hands symbolize our longing for touch, as well as comfort in its physical expression of love and affection, while in pandemic isolation. At the time the cast was made, it encapsulated the bond between the two writers in the face of external forces trying to keep them apart. Elizabeth Barrett was raised in a family of significant wealth, largely from her maternal grandfather’s Jamaican sugar plantation, and lived her first four decades in what has been described as reclusive confinement due in part to her father’s wishes and her frail health. She began writing poems at an early age and by 1844 had become one of England’s most popular poets. Her work attracted the attention of fellow writer Robert Browning, and after an extensive exchange of letters and 91 meetings by Robert’s count, they wed in secret, on September 12, 1846. Elizabeth’s father disinherited her following the marriage.

Above: Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Robert Browning, 1853, bronze cast of clasped hands, National Portrait Gallery, London Opposite: Michele Gordigiani, Robert Browning, 1858, oil on canvas, given by Florence L. Barclay (Florence Louisa Barclay (née Charlesworth)), 1921. National Portrait Gallery, London; Michele Gordigiani, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1858, oil on canvas, given by Florence L. Barclay (Florence Louisa Barclay (née Charlesworth)), 1921, National Portrait Gallery, London

The bronze was made from a plaster cast of the Brownings’ actual hands taken by sculptor Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (American, 1830– 1908). Hosmer, who grew up in Massachusetts, spent much of the 1850s in Rome, where she came into contact with Elizabeth and Robert. The cast was made at a time of great happiness for the two, whose famous portraits will also hang in the exhibition. At age 43, Elizabeth gave birth to their son, Pen. Both Brownings wrote prolifically and thrived creatively during this period, each supporting one another in their artistic pursuits. In 1850, Elizabeth released Sonnets from the Portuguese, a compilation of poems she had written to Robert while they were courting. Initially she had intended these intimate verses to be private, but Robert convinced her to publish them. In this volume, “Sonnet 43” begins with what has become one of the most famous and oft-repeated declarations of love in the English language: “How do I love thee, / let me count the ways.” Fifteen years after their elopement in 1861, Elizabeth died in Robert’s arms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has arguably introduced a new dimension to the way we look at portraits. Perhaps the past year and a half has increased our sensitivity to images of faces, because we have spent so much time interacting with others over mediated digital platforms. Portraits of people that commemorate moments of celebration and loss may invoke greater empathy in us. Love Stories from the National Portrait Gallery, London will invite our visitors to explore the richness of this diverse national collection through the lens of love. There will be oil paintings by Van Dyck and Gainsborough for the traditionalists; stories of heartbreak for the romantics; love triangles for soap-opera lovers; royal wedding portraits for the Anglophiles; John and Yoko for the Boomers; and much more. It is, however, our universal need for deep connection— manifested all the more throughout the pandemic—that exists at the core of this exhibition and allows us to recognize our common humanity in these artworks, now more than ever. —Claire C. Whitner, Ph.D., Director of Curatorial Affairs and James A. Welu Curator of European Art

This exhibition is organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London. WAM’s presentation is made possible through the generous support from the Fletcher Foundation. This project is also funded in part by the Ruth and John Adam, Jr. Exhibition Fund, Richard A. Heald Curatorial Fund, Don and Mary Melville Contemporary Art Fund, Michie Family Curatorial Fund, John M. Nelson Fund, and Hall and Kate Peterson Fund. Related programming is supported by the Bernard G. and Louise B. Palitz Fund.

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