Are you completely Madox?

Madox?
Yes! That's the name of the artist I chose. Never heard of him in my life until a few minutes ago.
I am not a pre-raphaelist fan but when I saw this painting I must say, I didn't think it was pre-raphaelist at all.
The theme and painting style had such a modern touch to it I thought it was impressionist.
And then I read about him and I was pretty surprised that my impression of his painting was correct.
They say about him: "Although born in France in 1821, Brown Ford Madox was actually English. He was a painstaking slow worker, unwilling to accept compromise of any kind. - I hear you there Madox-This means that his output was small, but it was often of a very high quality, & a number of his pictures were startlingly original He had a highly original mind, & produced some wonderful images.

So now, let's bring the paintings so they can talk for themselves.

So that's the painting that kind of blew me away. It is called "Naughty subject". It made in1863 and I think the modernity comes from the way the girl arrogantly looks beneath her eyelids the viewer. It is pretty timeless, isn't it? Except for the clothes and the quill, it could be any kid accross any time, from any country defying that teacher! The grey and subdued palette makes it modern as well contrary to the type of bright colours that are used in pre-raphaelite style.

Now this is another his painting "Romeo and Juliet" 1870 and you can see how different the style is compared to the painting above. Much more traditional and contrived. Yet I really like this painting. There is a lot sensuality in the way Romeo nestles his face into Juliet's neck and she closes her eyes in pure delectation. It nearly makes you wish you were Juliet at that moment.

Now this is another painting of his. Now at first I didn't like it. Although but when I looked at it closely I thought he painted that in an interesting way. I looked at the title and it said :"Jacob and the Coat of Joseph. 1867." Well i looked at the coat and I stared at it for a couple of seconds. I thought "that coat is pretty nice alright!" and it nearly jumps at me.

Everything in this painting looks old and dated except for that rich thick wooly coat. It transcends the painting. I thought there is really quality in the way he painted that coat.

And then there is this type of painting. John Wycliffe reading his translation of the Bible to John of Gaunt -1847-1861

Religious icon. Yeuk! Still it is the same painter we are talking about.

So if that' s not showing variety in painting styles I don't know what will.