Adagio

Adagio reflects Roberts' great love of music during the 1890s, when he attended regular musical soireés and counted musicians amongst his friends and portrait subjects. Representing a brief divergence from his generally realist approach, it shows the influence of the European Symbolists who were inspired by the idea of a relationship between musical and pictorial expression. Like them, Roberts aimed to encourage contemplation: evoking ideas and feelings which could not be expressed through a more literal transcription of reality.