Work by Ford Madox Brown

Work by Ford Madox Brown1852-1865

Oil on canvas 137 x197 cm

The Work was commissioned for Thomas Plint, a very pious and evangelical collector who supported the ideas of the work ethic as a reflection of Christian virtue. There are several references to contemporary life, the Irish ‘navvies’ working on the road the figures of Thomas Carlyle and John Frederick Denison Maurice overseeing the pavement.

The Hireling Shepherd

The Hireling Shepherd (1851) By William Holman Hunt

Oil on canvas Size 76.4 x 109.5 cm

The Hireling Shepherd was painted as a snub at the Church

and highlights problems within the religion and its

congregation, which is represented by sheep, running astray

without spiritual guidance.

The shepherd represents the Protestant Church while the

shepherdess the Roman Catholic Church. The lamb on her

lap eating green apples, symbolise death.