“Griselda” by Maxfield Parrish

“Griselda”

A sumptuous Maxfield Parrish to bring in the weekend…

This lovely oil on canvas painting, titled “Griselda”, was made by the American illustrator, Maxfield Parrish, in 1910. Parrish was one of the prominent artists to come out of the Golden Age of Illustration.  He is best known for his works depicting beautiful women in idealized classical landscapes with deep saturated colors.

This gorgeous piece was originally created for The Century Magazine and was published in their August 1910 edition, Volume LXXX, Number 4. It was printed with the accompanying poem by Florence Wilkinson, “Seven Green Pools at Cintra”.

The model for this piece was Susan Lewin who Parrish used for most of his most well-known paintings. He had first employed her as a household assistant to his wife. The two had a lifelong relationship. After the death of his wife, Lydia, Lewin stayed with Parrish and helped take care of him and the household.

Parrish was taken with the image and after its publication in the magazine, he repainted the background with his signature blue color and renamed the painting to “Griselda”. Parrish applied layers of glazing to make his colors appear to glow. To get the glowing effect, he would apply many layers of glaze and pigment over a white canvas to allow natural light to reflect even more off of the paint, reminiscent of the glazing technique used by Leonardo da Vinci. It is said that he developed this technique in the 1890s while suffering from tuberculosis. His colors were so vibrant that the paint color ‘Parrish blue’ was named after him.

Griselda was a character who originated in an Italian folktale that was first published in the 1300s. She was a wife and mother who was put up to tests of her worth by her husband, unbeknownst to her. First, he told her that their two young children had to be put to death. She agreed and let the children go, though the husband did not actually have the children killed, and instead had them raised in another town. Then the husband told her that he had been granted permission to divorce her to find a better woman. She agreed and moved back home with her father, where she lived for several years. Then, the husband told Griselda that he was remarrying and that she must be a servant at their wedding. She agreed and met the young bride who was actually their daughter. After accepting all fates without complaint and prior to the wedding, the husband finally told Griselda that his new “fiancée” was actually their daughter grown up. Griselda had proved her worth and was able to move back home and be restored to her husband, children, and position. Tricky guy.

“Griselda” is likely in a private collection, though reproductions can be found in many places online.

For more on Maxfield Parrish, please visit his short biography here.

You can find more artists to learn about here.