Paintings & Drawings

William Page, a pre-Raphaelite artist, was experimenting with the paint and chemicals he used to treat his canvasses, and this particular chemical combination caused the painting to begin darkening after four or five years. The portrait was painted on bitumen wood panel. Despite an attempt to restore the painting, it may eventually turn completely black.

This portrait was Elizabeth Barrett Browning's favorite of her husband. It is believed that Robert Browning sat for two hours at a time for 54 sittings to have the portrait painted. The portrait was secured from Wilfrid Meynell in 1948.

Samuel Laurence (1812-1884) also did a pastel drawing of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and a pencil and chalk sketch of Pen Browning, c. 1853. These pieces hang in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon on the third floor of the Library.

This signed photograph was taken at the home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who was a friend of Robert Browning's and neighbor to Julia Margaret Cameron. Robert Browning, 58, is shown with a cloak thrown around his shoulders. This was Robert's own copy of the photo. The photograph was a gift from Dr. Merle B. Stokes.

William Fisher (1817 - 1895), Irish portrait and subject painter, was pleased to have literary men sit for portraits. He enjoyed their companionship and conversation and therefore did not seek commissions from them. The three-quarter-length portrait shows Browning seated, holding a book, believed to be the Old Yellow Book, the source for his poem, The Ring and the Book. The painting was a gift to Baylor University from the Senior Class of 1932.

This is a companion portrait to the one of Joseph Milsand by Pen Browning. Pen designed this original frame.

Ralph Curtis painted Robert Browning's portrait simultaneously with three other portraitists to avoid Browning's having to sit for individual portraits. The Armstrong Browning Library has all but one of the four portraits painted during this sitting. The Curtis portrait was given to the Armstrong Browning Library in April of 1952.

Pennington described Browning's face as "...a study of indomitable spirit, gentle melancholia, and majestic dignity." This portrait was one of the four commissioned by Mrs. Arthur Bronson which included Ralph Curtis, Julian Story, and Charles Forbes. The Pennington portrait was a gift to the Armstrong Browning Library in 1944 from John Welsh on behalf of Sigma Tau Delta, the honorary English society at Baylor University.

This painting is similar to paintings done by Ralph Curtis, Cherubino Kirchmayr, Harper Pennington, and Julian Story, although the actual date is unknown. It was once thought that the work had been painted in 1884, but Robert Browning did not visit Venice (where the portrait was painted) in that year. The painting was given to the Armstrong Browning Library in 1981 by Robert Manning in honor of his brother, Otho A. Manning, L.L.B., 1941.

Browning is portrayed in a thoughtful mood, with features that are slightly indistinct. The portrait was presented to Baylor in 1945 by John Welsh, a member of Sigma Tau Delta, Baylor's honorary English society.

Richmond painted Browning for the pleasure of the task itself as well as for the pleasure in possessing a picture of his good friend. He felt his portrait captured the true Robert Browning, "...a very different man from the social one. In society he never gave himself away - he respected himself too much for that." The portrait was given to the Armstrong Browning Library in 1950 by Mr. and Mrs. John Leddy-Jones of Dallas, Texas.

The gold-leaf wooden frame, designed by Pen Browning, is filled with bursting pomegranates. Dr. A. J. Armstrong visited the artist in his home in 1909. Pen Browning told him that he considered this portrait the best likeness of his father. This was the last formal portrait done of Robert Browning, 77, who died at his son's home in Venice a few months later. It was a gift of the Senior Class of 1919.

Note: The bells and pomegranates theme can be seen in several places in the Martin Entrance Foyer, the room in which this painting hangs. They are prominent in the stained glass windows, bronze entrance doors, molded plaster ceiling, inlaid in a brass border on the terrazzo floor, and in the frame created by Pen for his father's portrait. Browning titled a series of pamphlets Bells and Pomegranates, a name symbolizing the music and meaning of poetry. The religious associations of the term are found in Exodus, where the border of the high priest's robe is described as being decorated with bells and pomegranates.

This sketch by Godfrey Douglas Giles (1857 - 1941) was made shortly before Browning's death in December of 1889; in fact, it is the last likeness of Robert Browning drawn from life. Major Giles was visiting Pen Browning in Venice at the same time that Browning was visiting, and he asked the poet to sit for a sketch. Below the drawing is Browning's signature in verse:

Here I'm gazing wide awake,
Robert Browning, no mistake!
Venice, Nov. 24. 89

Given by Rusty Bush.

A companion portrait of Pen Browning was done by the same artist during the same time period.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning refers to this drawing in a letter to Euphrasia Fanny Haworth in December 1858. She says: "[Miss Fox] draws well, and has been successful with the hair at least. For the likeness you shall judge for yourself." The drawing, which is signed and dated "E. F. Bridell / Roma 1858," was presented to the Library in March 1957 by C. E. Doolin of Dallas as a memorial to his mother, Mrs. Daisy Doolin.

On loan from Joseph Francus.

Ellen Heaton commissioned Thomas Richmond (1802 - 1874) to make two copies of Field Talfourd's 1859 portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning--this one which is on loan to the Armstrong Browning Library and another now located at Eton College. Richmond began work on the copies in 1869 but did not complete them until 1871. Talfourd's original was sent from Richmond's home in Windermere to the National Portrait Gallery in May 1871.

Presented to the Library by the children of Dr. & Mrs. Frank S. Groner.

The artist also created a companion portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning during the same time period.

This painting is described by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in a letter to her sister Arabella on January 10, [1857]. Although Pen was eight years old, his mother still enjoyed his curls and dressed him in velvet and lace.

Gift of Irving Bush, Jr.

The reading of Theophile Gautier's infamous "scrofulous French novel," Mademoiselle de Maupin, brings the hint of a smile to the Abbe's face. One of Pen's earliest paintings and his first major sale, the painting was purchased in 1876 by a wealthy ironmaster, Frederick Lehmann. It remained in the Lehmann family until it and a portrait of Robert Browning by Rudolf Lehmann, brother of Frederick, were presented to the Armstrong Browning Library by the Browning Study Club of Dallas, Texas, in 1947. The portrait of Browning is displayed in the McLean Foyer of Meditation.

An account by Alfred Domett, taken from The Diary of Alfred Domett 1872-1885, p. 169, reflects an occasion when Domett and his son (Alf) chatted with Browning about the painting:

March 30 [1876]. [Alf] and I going to R. Curling's house to dinner in Princess square, as we were crossing Hereford St., heard someone calling loudy "Domett!" Turned, and Browning came rushing up.

Alf's being a Royal Academy student, made us ask how "Pen" was getting on. "He has had a wonderful success!" said Browning. He brought over with him at Xmas a "study" of a priest reading a book. Millais had seen the picture and pronounced "the drawing perfect." Lehmann the artist (I think he said) expressed a desire to purchase it and offered Pen 150 guineas for it. Pen said "It was absurd - it could not be worth so much!" that he did not wish to sell it, knowing its defects. The other persisted in his offer. "Let me wait another year and then I will paint you a picture if you like and if I can," said Pen. "Then your price will probably be beyond me" replied Lehmann, "I must have this one." Browning said Pen was "quite wise" about it and still declined to take so much money, until at last he (Browning) said "Pen, don't be a fool - take it as it is offered." Then he consented but stipulated that it should not be exhibited - not on account of misgivings as to its merit, whatever he may have entertained, but because the book the priese was represented as reading was a very uncanonical one indeed - certain notorious memoirs of a French Madame - and Pen did not wish to give offence to the many who "reverenced priests."

This is one of Pen Browning's largest paintings and is considered one of his best works. First exhibited in 1880 by the Hanover Gallery in London, England, the painting depicts a scene during the Spanish Inquisition at Antwerp, 1570. The young woman has been brought forth by guards to stand before her Inquisition accusers and the representative of the secular arm of the government. It is his duty to pass sentence. Robert Browning penned a motto for the painting, which is a translation of a quotation from the poetry of the Spanish poet, Calderon.

Added to the Armstrong Browning Library collection in 1990, funds for the painting and its restoration were provided by the Guardian Angel organization, patrons of the Library.

This is a companion portrait to the one below of Joseph Milsand. Pen designed this original frame.

This portrait of Joseph Milsand, French writer, critic, and close friend of the Brownings, was painted as a companion piece to the one of Browning done the year before. The frame is a reproduction of one designed by Pen.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William R. Kendall, Houston, Texas.

On April 17, 1888, Robert Browning wrote to his son:

"I received Mrs. FitzGerald into favour at once when she showed me where she had hung your picture."

Mrs. Thomas FitzGerald, a close friend of the poet and the artist, purchased the painting in 1888 and hung it on the walls of Shalstone Manor in Buckingham, England. It and numerous autographed volumes, letters, and memorabilia items - forming the Purefoy-FitzGerald Collection - were purchased from the Purefoy family in 1974.

This was the last formal portrait done of Robert Browning, 77, who died at his son's home in Venice a few months later. Dr. A. J. Armstrong visited the artist in his home in Italy in 1909, where Pen told him that he considered this portrait the best likeness of his father. The gold-leaf wooden frame, designed by Pen, is filled with bursting pomegranates. The portrait was a gift to the Browning collection from the Senior Class of 1919.

A label on the back of the painting indicates that it was purchased at the Sotheby Sale of the Brownings' belongings in 1913 and became the property of Miss R. Fairbairn. Little else is known about the painting. It appears to be an early work of the artist and was acquired for the collection in 2014 through the assistance of the Dr. Delores Gardner Endowment Fund.

Music teacher and good friend to Robert Browning, some scholars believe Eliza Flower (1803 - 1846) was the inspiration for his first published work, Pauline. She definitely encouraged Browning in his desire to be a good poet. An interesting aside is the fact that her sister, Sarah Flower Adams (1805 - 1848), wrote the words for the hymn, "Nearer My God to Thee." Although Eliza set Sarah's words to music, it is not the familiar tune of today.

The artist, Eliza Fox, married Frederick Lee Bridell, a fellow artist, in 1859. Eliza Fox-Bridell's pastel drawing of Elizabeth Barrett Browning hangs in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon.

Pen and ink wash. Here the piper is depicted as a Scottish bagpiper, rather than the red and yellow pied piper of the German legend. Doyle (1832 - 1893) became known for his somewhat macabre fantasy scenes and for being the father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Barbieri acquired the name "Guercino," which means "squint-eye," as the result of an injury which took the sight from one of his eyes. Guercino began his artistic career at the age of ten and later joined the ranks of remarkable young Italian artists of his day. His paintings are found in practically every important city in Italy as well as in many other European galleries.

Saint James the Greater was a gift to the Library in 1959 from Robert Manning, who chose to give this particular painting because it reminded him of Browning and The Guardian Angel, another Guercino painting that Browning especially admired.

This painting depicts the Virgin Mary and three children, using the presence of the weeping child to illustrate the title of the work. Charity was given to the Library in 1960 by Robert Manning of New York.

Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning saw Guercino's original painting in Fano and Browning was inspired to write a poem, which he called "The Guardian Angel: A Picture at Fano." In the poem, Browning wishes that the angel could come down from the painting and minister to him and, in so doing, help him to see the world "as God has made it!"

This copy was commissioned in 1932 by William Lyon Phelps, Yale professor and the initial founder of The Fano Club. After his death in 1943, his family donated the painting to the Armstrong Browning Library where the tradition of The Fano Club lives on.

The Dolci original, and its pendant the Annunciate Virgin, is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. This beautiful copy, boldly signed on the verso, was a personal gift in 1948 from Ray and Freddie Dudley to Dr. A. J. Armstrong. It was transferred to the Library by Mrs. Armstrong in 1959.

 

One of the focal points of the Cloister, this fantasized illustration of the Brownings' courtship was commissioned to promote the power of letter-writing. Its plaque contains a line from one of Robert Browning's letters, "Dear, dear Ba...I believe that, when I have been your husband for years...if I were separated from you for a day and a letter came...my heart would move to it just as it now does." The painting was donated to the Armstrong Browning Library by the Eaton Paper Company.

According to art critics, Andrea del Sarto worthily represents the Golden Age of Florence. Although del Sarto was not the creator of this painting, the form and style heavily suggest that the unknown painter admired and imitated his style. Robert Browning admired the works of del Sarto and based his poem, "Andrea del Sarto," on the artist.

Madonna and Child is the center portion of a five-part altarpiece from a church in Sienna; it is the oldest piece in the Armstrong Browning Library's collection. Although it is not known whether the Brownings ever saw the painting, it is a fact they toured the churches of Siena in order to view the many paintings. The Brownings were lovers of art, particularly of the Italian Renaissance.

Although the Madonna and Child painting is thought by many to be Medieval in style, it actually belongs to the earliest examples of Renaissance art. A humanist perspective had begun to creep into otherwise two-dimensional iconographic representations. Notice the facial contact of the Madonna with the infant, as well as the realism in the proportion of the figures, particularly that of the Christ Child.

 

Francesco Allegrini was born in Gubbio, Italy, in 1587. He specialized mainly in historical projects and produced many works, in oil and fresco, for the churches and palaces of Rome.

Zuccarelli was a noted 18th-century landscape artist and is especially well-known for his English pastoral scenes. Although born in Italy, Zuccarelli spent several years in England, eventually becoming one of George III's favorite painters.

Active in the first half of the sixteenth century, Giampietrino is considered to be a north Italian of the Lombard school and a follower of Leonardo da Vinci.

Andrew Joseph Armstrong (1873 - 1954), pictured in his doctoral robes, is standing in the Browning Room, the original home of the Browning collection at Baylor University. It was his small collection of Browning books, which he donated to Baylor University in 1918, that initiated a desire to amass the world's largest Browning collection at Baylor. Through Dr. & Mrs. Armstrong's indefatigable diligence, this dream, along with the unique building in which it is housed, became a reality.

Notice Robert Browning's intaglio ring on Armstrong's little finger--a ring that the poet wore for over forty years. Armstrong took great pride in wearing the mementoe while he taught his Browning course. On occasion, he would knot the ring into his tie. Armstrong's piercing gaze was long remembered by his students, not always fondly, but always with respect.

Mary Maxwell Armstrong (1882 - 1971), wife of the founder of the Browning collection, is well remembered for her lectures on Browning's notoriously difficult poem, Sordello. She worked closely with her husband as they raised money through educational tours and cultural events to build the Browning collection at Baylor University. Much of the beauty and elegance of the Armstrong Browning Library is attributed to her influence.

Marrs McLean (1883 - 1953) and his wife, Verna, were the donors of the Foyer of Meditation in the Armstrong Browning Library. McLean, a Beaumont oil and gas developer, moved to San Antonio in the 1930s to turn to politics. He was one of the members of the Building Committee for the Library and a major supporter of Baylor University. The Rena Marrs McLean Physical Education Building, given in memory of his mother, was dedicated on the Baylor campus in October 1938. He received an honorary degree from Baylor in 1951.

Verna Hooks McLean and her husband were the donors of the beautiful Foyer of Meditation in the Armstrong Browning Library, and she was instrumental in acquiring the spectacular 18th-century Chinese temple jars for the room. She and her daughter established the Corrie Herring Hooks Series at the University of Texas Press in honor of their mother and grandmother, a lifelong nature lover and conservationist; and, after her husband's death, Mrs. McLean provided the funds for the Marrs McLean Science Building on the Baylor campus. She died in 1991 at the age of 98.

Pauline (Mrs. Abner P.) McLendon of Waco, Texas, provided a generous donation that made it possible for A. J. Armstrong to secure for the Browning Collection the rare first edition of Robert Browning's first publication Pauline, (1833). Her portrait hangs in the Austin Moore-Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon near many of the pieces of furniture that she provided for the room.

The famed Broadway actress first came to Baylor in 1934 to perform in The Barretts of Wimpole Street. One of Armstrong's great accomplishments was bringing cultural events to the Waco and Baylor community. A friendship developed between the Armstrongs and Miss Cornell, and she returned to Baylor in 1951 to participate in dedication ceremonies for the Armstrong Browning Library. During the ceremonies she presented a shadowbox replica of a scene from the play. In later years, several original Browning items were gifts of her estate.