Chaucer at the Court of Edward III, 1845

Ford Madox Brown

Date: 1845 

Materials: Pencil 

Wife's death 

In the Autumn of 1845, Brown took his tubercular wife Elizabeth to the warmer climate of Italy. She survived the winter but died in Paris on the return journey.

Whilst in Rome, Brown began work on his first ambitious easel painting, an imaginary scene set in 1375, showing the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (circa. 1340 - 1400) reading aloud to Edward III and his court.

Medieval triptych

One of two paintings developed from this idea, was a huge oil (3.5m x 3m) 'Chaucer at the Court of Edward III', exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1851.

This is the second in sequence of two such designs in the Birmingham collection. Another pencil drawing inscribed 'Roma 1845' shows his first idea of using the medieval triptych format.

Apart from the poet, the main figures in the upper group are John of Gaunt (Chaucer's patron) and the grey-bearded Edward III, seated next to Edward the Black Prince.