Pope Makes Love To Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Alexander Pope's infatuation with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu — the brilliant, sharp-tongued traveller and letter-writer who found his advances ridiculous — was one of the most discussed episodes in eighteenth-century literary gossip. Frith's 1852 canvas dramatises a moment from this comedy of mismatched desires, placing the diminutive, physically disabled poet beside the formidable aristocratic wit who reportedly laughed in his face when he declared his love. Victorian painters were drawn to such historical-literary anecdotes because they combined the appeal of portrait-like historical reconstruction with the emotional clarity of genre narrative. The Auckland Art Gallery's holding of this specifically literary-historical subject alongside A Sketch: The Proposal demonstrates the geographic spread of Frith's work through colonial acquisitions.

Oil on canvas with the period costume and interior setting reconstruction that historical genre demanded. Frith's approach to eighteenth-century subjects drew on the same skills he brought to contemporary scenes: careful attention to social dynamics expressed through figure arrangement, gesture, and facial expression.