The Hommage Giving: Westminster Abbey, August 9th, 1902
John HF Bacon
- Art Funded
- 1992
- Dimensions
- 96 x 183 cm
- Bequeathed by
- M E B Samson through The Art Fund
This large painting of the Coronation of Edward VII made a particularly interesting addition to the collections of the Gallery, as, although it contained portraits of British monarchs in Coronation robes, it had hitherto none of a Coronation ceremony.
The Prince of Wales is shown in the foreground, and Queen Alexandra is seated to the right. Bacon, a leading figure in English Edwardian painting, established himself as a genre painter with a naturalistic style, but turned to portraiture around 1900, gaining considerable success with his male portraits. In this painting he depicts a moving moment of the Coronation, as the elderly Archbishop of Canterbury has difficulty in rising, and the King takes him by the right hand to help him to rise.
Provenance
Mrs M.E.B. Samson.