Old Age and Eventide by Hubert von Herkomer
In 1877, the aged women's ward at Westminster Union was the subject of an illustration by Hubert (von) Herkomer entitled Old Age — A Study at the Westminster Union which appeared in the weekly magazine The Graphic.
Old Age — A Study at the Westminster Union
by Hubert von Herkomer
© Peter Higginbotham.
The following year, Herkomer rendered the same scene as an oil painting retitled as Eventide.
Eventide
by Hubert von Herkomer
In Eventide the workhouse appears as a comfortable and sociable environment, despite the poverty. The painting received admiration when it was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1879. Its distorted perspective with the pressing foreground cluster of figures was considered extremely innovative and powerful while the natural expression of the elderly women was equally praised.
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