Ford Madox Brown's Protestant Medievalism: Chaucer and Wycliffe
- Author / Editor
- Richmond, Velma Bourgeois.
Ford Madox Brown's Protestant Medievalism: Chaucer and Wycliffe
- Published
- Christianity & Literature 54 (2005): 363-96.
- Description
- Four historical paintings by Ford Madox Brown (1821-93) exhibit the interplay among literature, art, and religion in Victorian medievalism. Chaucer is the primary focus in The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry (1845) and Chaucer at the Court of Edward III (1851, 1867-68).
- In addition, Chaucer is a witness to Wycliffe in Wycliffe Reading His Translation of the Bible to John of Gaunt, in the Presence of Chaucer and Gower (1847-48, 1859-61) and in Wycliffe on His Trial (1884-86). Brown saw Chaucer and Wycliffe, through their development of English poetry and prose respectively, as crucial to breaking the hold of the Catholic Church in England and establishing national identity.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.
- Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.