June 23, 1903

Joseph Southall (August 23, 1861 to 6 November 1944) is not a familiar name and since we like the painting copied below, we are going into detail about the artist. Our essay is completely based on the article about him in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Southall's talent flourished in a Quaker family. We can see in our example the influence of the Italian primitives and his interest in egg tempera painting. "Southall's tempera work showed clear and precise outlines and bright and clear colour, and had a permanence he believed to be greater than that which could be achieved by oil-based paint." Southall was also influenced by the arts and crafts movement, and designed his own frames for his paintings. He married his first cousin, --the model for the painting we show -- on June 23, 1903. They agreed not to have children. His wife often gilded the frames he made. By this time his fame was extensive.

"The main body of Southall's work was his easel paintings in tempera of mythological and romantic subjects, which often took up to two years to complete owing to their large size. He exhibited these works, including his largest, Beauty Receiving the White Rose from her Father (1898-9)... again and again, but painted few [of the large canvases] after 1910, doubtless partly because of the time they took and consequent high price, and partly because his reputation was secure."

His pacifism led him to take a role in politics during the first world war. Although many Quaker families, especially in Birmingham, had by then a tradition of having Southall paint their portraits, he was too busy during the war to do much painting, so we have another reason his painting output diminished.

"In his life Southall brought together the gathered stillness of a Quaker meeting, the jewelled calm of tempera painting, and the peace sought by pacifism. " We see this in the painting of his wife with the cat. She would outlive him.