The Long Engagement

Hughes exhibited this painting in 1859 with a quotation from Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde:
For how myght ever sweetnesse have be known / To hym that never tastyd bitternesse?
This work evolved out of an unfinished attempt at a painting depicting the scene of Orlando in the Forest of Arden from the Shakespearean play As You Like It, but the figures were later painted out.

The woodland setting was painted from nature, outdoors in the summer of 1854. The man is recognisable as a curate from his clothes. Presumably the couple do not have the means to be married and he is perhaps too poor even to become formally betrothed to the woman as her left hand displays no engagement ring. The length of their courtship is indicated by the ivy having grown over her name, Amy, which was carved into the tree long ago. A mood of sadness pervades the painting, but the presence of the faithful dog suggests the lovers’ steadfast loyalty to one another.