The Chamber Idyll
Description:
In the center of the image, a nude male figure sits on the edge of a bed, one leg resting on the floor. He looks up at a female figure who stands between his legs undressing, untying the strings of her diaphanous chiton (an undergarment) (Lister, Samuel Palmer 85). The bed is draped with a variety of web-like clothes and a large knotted pillow. Fruit and vegetables are scattered under and around the bed, a full basket resting at its foot. The chamber is part of a cottage whose wooden beams frame the image; this border also includes a walking stick, a scythe, a gourd, and a few other tools. On the left, moonlight shines through a window whose right pane is open onto a large bound book. On the right, the sheaf-like roof of the chamber slopes down to the corner of the bed, enclosing the room from the night outside. Next to the cottage a flock of sheep slumbers in a pen, and a single bull stands beneath a tree. A rural countryside with trees and bushes slopes up and away from the viewer beneath a starry sky.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Accession Number:
2006.36
Width (in centimeters):
8
Provenance
Ruth C. Wallerstein Endowment Fund purchaseAssociated Events
His work having little appeal in his day, William Blake was relatively unknown. However, he was discovered and revered by the Ancients, a circle of young, male artists who privileged the work of the "ancients" over modern man (Lister, Edward Calvert 16). Blake met John Linnell in 1818, who then introduced him to Samuel Palmer in 1824 and to Edward Calvert in 1825. Palmer and Calvert, along with George Richmond, were the most prominent artists of the Ancients. They revered Blake as a heroic figure who called for spiritual art in an age of materialism.With nothing am I more impressed than with the necessity, in all great work, for suppressing the workman and all the mean dexterity of practice. The result itself, in quiet dignity, is the only worth attainment. Wood-engraving, of all things most ready for dexterity, reads us a good lesson. (qtd. in Binyon, 16)Although only seven of Calvert’s woodcuts are known, they are exemplary of this quiet dexterity and artistry. Unlike Blake’s engravings, Calvert’s possess a peculiar, expressive quality that was subtle and sensitive. In particular, he gives the landscapes that compose the backdrops to his subjects a level of detail that “cohere[s] in a visionary yet intimately realised scene” (Binyon 17). However, after taking the art to these new heights, he inexplicably abandoned engraving and turned to painting, mostly working on classical pastorals. Calvert’s pastoralism—unlike that of his fellow Ancients, such as Samuel Palmer—was inspired by pagan idylls rather than by religious works (Brown). Though short-lived, Blake’s influence on Calvert was intense and productive, effecting what Raymond Lister calls Calvert's "period of illumination" and culminating in his last and arguably best print, The Chamber Idyll (Edward Calvert 21).
Associated Texts
The Bride (Edward Calvert, 1828)Subject
This intimate domestic scene portrays two lovers who, because of their profound absorption in each other, are simultaneously spectator and spectacle.Significance
This image is unique in terms of spectatorship: it offers an intimate scene in a private setting, and there is no spectacle to distract the two lovers from gazing at each other. The spectacle for the viewer, then, is the encounter of the two lovers themselves, consequently positioning us as potential voyeurs. However, this voyeurism is undercut by the artistry of Calvert’s tiny wood cut (3 in. x 1 5/8 in.), which frames the couple as an aesthetic spectacle; this aesthetic "framing" occurs literally as well, as the wooden beams bordering the image transform the intimate scene into the framed subject of a painting. Calvert is extremely detailed in his depiction of the pair of lovers, as well as in the surprising texture he gives to the idyllic chamber within and the pastoral landscape without. Moreover, the division between the interior and exterior of the chamber highlights the position of the viewer as inside rather than outside—a guest rather than a voyeur. With this repositioning of the viewer, the lovers are celebrated for their aesthetic nudity and their devoted intimacy. They are framed as an artistic spectacle rather than as illicit subjects.Bibliography
Binyon, Laurence. The Followers of William Blake: Edward Calvert, Samuel Parker, George Richmond, & Their Circle. London: Halton, 1925. Print.Featured in Exhibit:
From the Collection:
Engraver:
Delineator:
Image Date:
1831