How Pussy Galore Awakened my Conscience

When you study Pre-Raphaelite Art at University, one of the first pictures you are shown is The Awakening Conscience by William Holman Hunt.  You will already know that I am fond of this painting, it is a marvellous blend of exquisite detail and unintentional humour, which is a winning combination in my book.  It is also the reason I nearly gave up on Pre-Raphaelite art history.  Let me explain…

The Awakening Conscience (1853-86) William Holman Hunt

When I first saw it as a young, innocent twenty year old, I thought it was dreamy.  I loved the delicate lace hearts around the bottom of her petticoat, the rich colours of the shawl wrapped around her hips, all that lovely hair and the determined look on her face.  Then I read a description:

‘The poor girl has been sitting with her seducer; some chance words of the song ‘Oft in the stilly night’ have struck upon the numbed places of her heart; she has started up in agony…’ (Ruskin’s letter in The Times)

Furthermore, the figure of the girl is described as ‘repentant’, ‘vulgar’ and ‘tragic’ and, my favourite, ‘hideously disturbing’ by the eventual owner Thomas Fairbairn. Looking at the fallen woman, I couldn’t see it.  She looked a bit surprised, but nothing outrageous.  I felt bad that I couldn’t understand what the fuss was about and that wasn’t my only problem.  I also had an issue with Annie Miller (and I wouldn’t be the first person to say that).

The most modern book I own that deals with The Awakening Conscience is Franny Moyle’s Desperate Romantics.  In glorious colour, the painting is shown (nice reproduction) with the following description: ‘Annie Miller was the obvious model for this picture, showing a prostitute on her fancy man’s lap.  When it first went on show, Annie proudly strutted like a peacock in front of it.’  Hang on, isn’t this also Annie Miller ?

Helen of Troy (1863) D G Rossetti

 

And this ?

Woman in Yellow (1863) D G Rossetti

Well, that looks nothing like Annie Miller, she can’t be both people.  But wait, possibly Rossetti portrayed her in a completely different way.  How about Millais' portrait of her?

Annie Miller (1854) J E Millais

 

Well, the hair is a similar colour, but I’m not seeing the similarity.  How about Hunt, did he use Annie for anything else ? Oh, here we go…

Il Dolce Far Niente (1859-66) William Holman Hunt

Well, that certainly does look like the woman in The Awakening Conscience.  While watching the television drama Desperate Romantics, Annie is clearly seen in front of the painting, not exactly strutting like a peacock, well not at this point.

Desperate Romantics (BBC)

 

So, my problem was this - how can the painting be of a woman mortified by her damnation, when, at worst, she looks like she’s just heard the ice-cream van outside, but not got any change?  Also, how can she be Annie Miller?

Enter my personal saviour, Diana Holman Hunt.

 

Good Lord, I wish I looked that fabulous, she’s like the Pussy Galore of Art History biographers.  Granddaughter of William Holman Hunt, Diana wrote the fabulous biography My Grandfather, His Wives and Loves – Any biography which contains the line ‘At this point I topped up my glass with gin’ (p.23) is a thing of beauty.   

She confirms that Annie Miller was indeed the model for The Awakening Conscience and Il Dolce Far Niente, both painted during Hunt and Miller’s relationship and engagement.  However, she goes on to explain the reason why neither picture resembles Annie.  If you consider it, why on earth would Hunt, after being betrayed and then blackmailed by a woman he loved, allow the face of his betrayer to adorn his pictures?  Admittedly, The Awakening Conscience wasn’t his idea to change.  Fairburn found the ‘tortured expression’ so horrific that he returned it to Hunt to change.  Hunt scraped back the face so much that, even in x-ray, no trace of the original face exists. That is excessive scraping in my opinion, done with extreme prejudice.  I’ve seen Venus Verticordia by Rossetti in x-ray and you can just about see the previous positions of scraped/repainted things, completely invisible in the finished canvas. Hunt obliterated Annie from this picture. 

Il Dolce Far Niente, although begun from Annie, was left incomplete, the face left until last and only completed in 1866, from Fanny Waugh, Hunt’s first wife and model for Isabella and the Pot of Basil.  Well, I now have another question – if our fallen woman is Fanny Waugh, like in Il Dolce Far Niente, and the painting was re-faced in 1857, how come Hunt didn’t meet Fanny until 1861? Oh, for goodness sake, Hunt…

Fanny Waugh c.1866

Annie Miller c.1860

  

Isabella and the Pot of Basil (1866-8)

I think it is most likely that both paintings have Annie’s hair, a red-gold mass of curls when freed, and an idealised face.  After all, the woman in The Awakening Conscience only vaguely resembles the model for Isabella, and to be honest the formal portrait of Fanny isn’t greatly like either picture, but its purpose is different.  Looking at the date range of The Awakening Conscience, Hunt had until the 1880s to alter the face to resemble his first wife or even his second wife, Edith Waugh, Fanny's sister.

I therefore have answers to my questions – the reason the fallen woman doesn’t look like the tortured description given of her when the painting was unveiled is because she was ‘cheered up’ so she didn’t put her owner off his dinner, and the reason she doesn’t look like Annie Miller is that she isn’t Annie Miller, well, not anymore.  What she is, however, is a cautionary tale to all Art Historians.  Don’t ever be afraid to say ‘Eh?  I don’t see it…’, because Diana Holman Hunt will be on hand to help you out.  

Because she is secretly one of The Avengers.