Pictures Dated 2nd December 2011

Celadon and Amelia in a storm, by John Wood

Two figures in a stormy landscape. On the left is a young man dressed in a beret style hat, white ruffed neck collar, jacket, belt and breeches, with stockings and shoes. He looks up toward the cloudy black sky, and holds aloft in his right hand a shepherd's crook. He has his left arm around the waist of a young dark haired woman in a full length dress, with short puffed sleeves and low décolletage, a sash and shoes. She also looks up at the sky, her hands clasped in front of her, as if in supplication. In the background on the left is a break in the clouds, with, below the figures, trees and a town.
Illustrates part of "The Seasons" by James Thomson - "Summer", published in 1727.
"... Young Celedon
And his Amelia were a matchless pair,
With equal virtue formed and equal grace,
The same, distinguished by their sex alone:
Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn,
And his the radiance of the risen day."
Unfortunately, as they wander through the woods, Amelia is struck by lightning and dies: "not always on the guilty head descends the fatal flash".

© Nottingham City Museums and Galleries