Walter Crane, R.W.S.

Dr Hood, (presumably William Charles Hood), 1863;
Given to "GHH" (presumably George Henry Haydon), 1863;
Mrs Charlotte Frank, from whom bought by Sir David Scott, 22 July 1960 for £50 

STRUCTURE The canvas has been relined. PAINT SURFACE Some old scattered craquelure particularly to whiter paint in the sky and on the blanket. Stabilised by the relining. ULTRAVIOLET UV light reveals some spots of retouching scattered across the sky and further minor scattered spots eslewhere. FRAME Held in a simple gilded composite frame.
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This Old Testament subject was painted by Walter Crane when he was just eighteen years old. Nonetheless, it is immediately recognisable as a product of his peculiar artistic genius with characteristics familiar from the main body of his work such as the high horizon and decorative placing of the main and peripheral figures within the overall format. It represents a great advance over his earliest known painting, The Lady of Shalott (Yale Center for British Art), which he had exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1862.

Crane commenced his professional career by working as a designer of illustrations for books and periodicals, a formative experience which encouraged him to look for ways to treat narrative subjects with economy and directness. In 1862 he provided fourteen designs to accompany Caroline Hadley's Stories of Old: Bible Narratives for Young Children, published by Smith and Elder. It was presumably this commission that led Crane to the present Old Testament subject.

The story of Ruth describes the tribulations and insecurities of daily life in ancient Israel, and is a testament to the power of family loyalty and faithfulness. Ruth, who was a Moabite rather than a Hebrew, was married to Mahlon. They travelled to Moab, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea and in the company of his mother Naomi at a time of famine in Judah. When Mahlon died, leaving Naomi and Ruth defenceless, Ruth vowed to care for her mother-in-law, who she loved, and set about providing for her by gleaning in the harvest fields. Word spread among the Jewish community in Bethlehem about this exemplary young woman, and in due course Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi, took notice of her, in the first place by instructing his workers to provide her with grain with which to make bread, but eventually – and despite her shameful lineage as a descendant of Moab – making her his wife. Obed, the son who was born to Ruth and Boaz, brought great happiness to the family. He in turn was the father of Jesse and the grand-father of David, and thus the Moabite Ruth was the ancestress of Jesus the Messiah.

Crane's immediate purpose in taking this subject is not recorded. Although not subject to proof, it seems likely that the stretcher inscription was made by Dr William Charles Hood, who had been appointed as 'physician superintendent' director of the Bethlem Hospital for the Criminally Insane at the age of twenty-eight in 1852. If Hood is correctly identified as the recipient of the painting, then the person to whom he in turn gave it, indicated only by the initials GHH, must have been his steward at Bethlem, George Henry Haydon. These were two men of enlightened vision who sought to provide humane conditions in which the inmates of the hospital might live, and by attempting to understand the mental state of their patients. A library of books was provided in an attempt to provide mental stimulation, and the hospital was also furnished with engravings. In 1864 the hospital transferred from London to the newly constructed Broadmoor in Berkshire, where Hood continued his campaign to care for and understand the criminally insane.

The most notable of all Hood's patients was the painter Richard Dadd, incarcerated at Bethlem and subsequently at Broadmoor for the murder of his father in 1843. Dadd painted Hood's portrait in 1853, and was otherwise encouraged to work by Hood, who provided him with painting materials and eventually forming a collection of as many as thirty-three of his works. Two of Dadd's most remarkable paintings, Oberon and Titania (Lord Lloyd Webber collection) and The Fairy-feller's Master-stroke (Tate), were dedicated to Hood and Haydon respectively. There was some awareness within the artistic sphere of Dadd's existence and interest in what he was doing. For example, W. M. Rossetti, the brother of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, visited Bethlem in 1863, and gave an account of Dadd's circumstances. Although not referred to by Crane in his autobiography, it may be that he too had visited the hospital or had contact with Hood. It is possible that the present painting was given by Crane to Hood with the intention that it should be displayed at Bethlem, and – if this were the case – it may perhaps have been seen by Richard Dadd.