I’ve never led you wrong with long text, I promise this is well worth the read.
“The Delaroche painting of the coming execution is organized compositionally into 3 parts which emphasize the central moment of the work, the impending beheading of Lady Jane. On the left of work are 2 ladies-in-waiting who are convulsed with grief.
They are passive, emotional and feminine and stand in contrast to right side of the painting which is masculine and full of potential action- the act of beheading. The male official helps Lady Jane find the block and at the far right stands in the elegant contraposto stance of a Greek statue, the executioner who leans on his long-handled axe. A glint of the metal of the blade is just visible in the shadows. The executioner wears red tights as if foreshadowing the blood which will soon be spilled on the straw surrounding the block and on the luminous creamy white satin dress of Lady Jane.
This academic composition of 3 parts organized into masculine and feminine poles serves to emphasis the central figure of the subject, Lady Jane. She is also given prominence by the light which illuminates her against the dark gloom of the Tower of London… As the viewer, I am entranced by the beautiful smooth, liquid texture and brightness of of her satin dress and the pale, porcelain nature of her skin. I notice the other elements in the painting, but I continually return to this luminous figure and her impending fate.
Specifically, I focus on the essential and eternal act of the central figure of Lady Jane. The action in the painting is not the execution itself, but a moment or two before the act of beheading and it is a moment of quiet, yet extremely emotional movement- a simple and tentative gesture of the hand. A blindfolded Lady Jane reaches out her right hand in confusion in an attempt to find the wooden block on which she will place her head. But, she cannot do it alone. In order to find the block, she is assisted by the official who leans over and guides her hand. It is this gesture of the hand that so arrests me when I look at this painting. It is a pathetic movement full of anxiety, fear, terror and bewilderment. It is a representation of the unknown. As a viewer, I see what Lady Jane who is blindfolded cannot see: the block, the straw, the grieving ladies-in-waiting, the silent executioner ready with his axe, the helpful official. She knows and does not know what is about to happen, but as the spectator I know and simultaneously I feel her terror. While I witness what is about to unfold, I also inhabit her blindfolded body ( I was 20 at the time I first saw the painting, so close to her age of 16) and experience the unknown and the blackness (metaphorically the official’s cloak) as she does: Where is the block? I cannot find it. Where is the executioner? When will his axe fall? Will I die swiftly? Will I feel pain? Will God save my soul? Why is this happening to me? I am only sixteen.
The tense, emotional and psychological nature of the painting is accompanied by its form which is a sumptuous display for the eye despite the horrifying subject. The subject of the painting is as much a historically accurate event as it is a feast of textures and colors rendered in paint. There is the smooth, luscious creamy white satin of Lady Jane’s gown, made even more so, since I, as the viewer, know it will soon be stained with blood. There is the grain of the block’s wood, the traces of its use, the hard iron rings on its side and the pale blue velvet of the cushion on which Lady Jane kneels. There is the crispness of the pale yellow straw surrounding the block and the soft fur of the official’s cloak and the fur sleeves of the dress worn by the seated lady-in-waiting.”
Vilhelm Hammershøi in Jane Eyre (2011), Pt. II
(via unvraibordel)
