A visual interlude

This painting from 1850 captivated me from the moment I first saw it in the Manchester City Art Gallery.  The painter, James Collinson, was part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; their seven members were dedicated to the reform of art by returning to abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions in their depictions of realistic, contemporary life or historical events.

At first sight the artist has captured a tranquil domestic scene: a family relaxing in their cottage beside the warm fire, the late afternoon sunlight filtering through the window.  The children are huddled around the table, where a boy is writing.  The dog waits patiently for his supper while the parents engage in an earnest discussion, the ever-patient mother pulling her baby's socks on yet again... The expression on the wife's face, however, suggests that perhaps not all is well.

The title brings more understanding: "Answering the emigrant's letter."  A relative or friend is among the one million British people to have emigrated in the 1840s - some pushed by technological changes which displaced many textile and iron workers, others pulled by the prospect of a world of new opportunity.  The husband has a map of Australia on his lap, and holds the well-travelled letter in his hand. 

What is causing the tension?  Is the woman anxious that her husband is considering joining the emigrant - uprooting their family and way of life for a dangerous voyage and unknown destination?  Or is the opposite true?  The man can no longer find work but doesn't have the courage - unlike his wife - to set out for a new life in Australia?

However the letter is answered, the backdrop to Collinson's painting is the simmering tension of a rapidly changing world - technologically, socially, politically and economically - in the mid 19th century.  It is telling that the oldest child is writing the letter - probably because his parents never went to school or learned to write.  The challenge for this family is to face the challenges of emigration, mobility, redundancy, education... while maintaining their love, commitment, family values and relational support for one another.

As I reflect on this, I find the picture highly relevant even 160 years after it was painted.  The world in 2010 is changing rapidly, new opportunities and challenges appear, technology is still transforming society, old certainties are fading.  Yet what happens in the family, and the success or failure of relationships between men and women, parents and children, employers and workers, within communities and between nations, will always remain centre stage.