Thomas Hovenden, Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady

Thomas Hovenden: Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady (1880) Oil on canvas
Title
Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady
Date
1880
Medium
Oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Nancy L. Corson, 2003
Dimensions
38 7/8" x 19 7/8"

Born in poverty in Ireland, Thomas Hovenden went on to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and met Helen Corson, an artist from Philadelphia, while working as a young artist in France. The couple married and returned to Philadelphia, where Hovenden replaced Thomas Eakins as a professor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts.

Painted a year before Hovenden and Corson were married, Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady depicts a young courtier (a self-portrait of Hovenden) presenting a ring to his beloved (Corson). The Corson family were well-known abolitionists, and their home in Plymouth Meeting, known as Abolition Hall, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The family's barn, later used as Hovenden's studio, was often used for anti-slavery meetings.

Hovenden is well known for portraying subjects of African American life in the post-Civil War era. One of his most famous paintings, The Last Moments of John Brown (1884), is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His remarkable Breaking Home Ties (1890) hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Sadly, Hovenden's life ended in 1895 in a failed attempt to rescue a child from an oncoming train.

 

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady by Thomas Hovenden from PFW Media on Vimeo.

Stories Trigger
Blank field used to trigger form on artwork and artist pages. DO NOT EDIT

Share:

Stories

We invite you to share your ideas, knowledge, and stories as they relate to the art in our collection. Read what people had to say about this art or use the form below and write to us yourself.

Name:
Invalid Input
Email:
Invalid Input on Email
Phone:
Invalid Input on Phone
Message:
Invalid Input
Invalid Input