The Beloved - 1865-66
Oil on canvas
Also known as The Bride and is an elaborated version of the Blue Bower. The main figure is about to meet her groom and is surrounded by attendants. The ornate fram in which the painting is seen has an enscription from the "Song of Soloman" whihc accensuates the intensity of the painting:
My Beloved is mine and I am his.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
for thy love is better than wine.
She shall be brought unto the King
in rainment of needlework: the virgins
that be her fellows shall bear her
company, andbrought unto thee.