'The Gilded Cage', a Female Captive

Image credit: National Trust Images

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She's only a bird in a gilded cage,
A beautiful sight to see,
You may think she's happy and free from care,
She's not, though she seems to be.

The title of the picture echoes that of the popular ballad of 1900. It was painted by an Irish artist favoured by Alda Weston (1861–1947), Lady Hoare of Stourhead, and the subject matter may have symbolic meaning.

Only a piece of brown drapery covers the thighs of the woman sitting in a brightly-lit hallway with her back up against a wall. Her arms are raised above her head and her hands are in chains. Butterflies flutter by freely. This is not the first time Hare painted shackled females. Twenty years before he made the 'Victory of Faith', which was exhibited at the Royal Academy to acclaim and is now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

National Trust, Stourhead

Warminster

Title

'The Gilded Cage', a Female Captive

Date

1908

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127 x W 101.5 cm

Accession number

732353

Acquisition method

gift from Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare along with the estate, house and its contents, 1946

Work type

Painting

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National Trust, Stourhead

Stourton, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 6QD England

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