Artwork
Cordelia Parting from her Sisters
Cordelia Parting from her Sisters is an unspecified painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Ford Madox Brown. It dates from 1854 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The work was created in England and later entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it remains on display.
Ford Madox Brown painted Cordelia Parting from her Sisters in 1854 using oil on canvas, measuring 19.5 cm by 26.5 cm. The work was created in England and later entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it remains on display. Its formal composition emphasizes expressive gesture and narrative detail characteristic of mid-nineteenth-century British historical painting, reflecting Brown's meticulous draftsmanship and vivid coloration.
History & Provenance
Ford Madox Brown painted Cordelia Parting from her Sisters in 1854, depicting a literary scene from Shakespeare's King Lear. The work measures 19.5 cm in height and 26.5 cm in width, created in England. It entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it remains on view as part of their holdings. The painting's provenance traces its acquisition to the museum, establishing its current ownership history.
Cordelia Parting from her Sisters by Ford Madox Brown is held by the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is recorded under the accession number 2013.261. The painting, classified as a work on canvas measuring 19.5 by 26.5 (height by width), is part of the museum's permanent collection and was made in England.
No specific exhibition history beyond its inclusion in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection is documented in the available sources.
Overview
Ford Madox Brown’s 1854 canvas, Cordelia Parting from her Sisters, presents a quiet, emotionally charged moment from Shakespeare’s King Lear. The composition centers on three women in flowing garments, with a muted crowd and an open doorway in the distance, establishing a layered spatial depth that guides the eye toward the central figures.
Subject & Meaning
The work captures the instant when Cordelia, expelled by her father, bids farewell to her sisters. The scene emphasizes restrained sorrow and familial bonds, reflecting the play’s themes of loyalty, exile, and the personal cost of political power.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style.
"King Lear," Act I, Scene I
Chaucer at the court of Edward III
Queen Jadwiga and Dymitr of Goraj
The First Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece
La despedida
The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry
Study of Courtesans
The Two Crowns
The Young François I of France Goes out Hunting
The Parting of King Robert and Bertha
Compared in the Pre-Raphaelites course