One of
Gotch’s most famous paintings, a work I have seen reproduced many times.
It was not an anti-climax to see it’ in the flesh.’ Following the
artist’s visit to Italy in the early 1890s he moved totally away from the
Newlyn style. He moved towards a totally individual form of symbolism, his
paintings becoming highly- finished, and detailed. This picture brings to
mind Beata Beatrix by Rossetti. The mysterious female figure is Death
herself, with the surrounding poppies being a symbol of death, and, of
course, a narcotic. She welcomes the viewer, drawing aside her veil. It is a
morbid image, but it is also beautiful, accomplished, and somehow consoling.
It is one of the great late Victorian Images.
