The Escape

"He has come a cropper on the turf - see the copy of Bell's Life just visible below his knee (the favourite, if not the only, reading of Soapy Sponge, I seem to remember) and is fleeing from his creditors, making the traditional escape to the Continent, (Calais as a rule) with his attractive young wife, who will soon be regretting, if she has not already done so, having married a compulsive gambler. The two members of the crew are looking to see if they are being pursued. The envelope on the wife's lap with its red penny Victorian stamp is a clue which we can interpret as we please. Did the letter in it contain news that made them realise that they had better clear out of the country as soon as possible? Or is it a passionate appeal from her parents to leave the man? Unlikely perhaps for she would be likely to conceal such a letter. But why is she clutching it like that? And is the mud on the man's boots & trousers meant to show that they had to get off in a hurry? At least they had time to pack all their luggage on which they are sitting. The two main figures are admirably painted. He is exactly right - a typical worthless Victorian ne'er-do-well, who has run through a fortune, (perhaps his wife's) & has never done a stroke of honest work in his life - the 'villain' of a Whyte Melville novel. The wife is sad & attractive enough to inspire pity. Thank goodness there are no children to complicate matters! What will their future be? Thank goodness the sea is calm.'

These are the words of Sir David Scott, who took acute pleasure in teasing narrative from Victorian painting. Born in 1887, he grew up a generation after this picture was painted and was able to read its iconography well. Its authorship remains a matter of conjecture but the artist may have had in mind Ford Madox Brown’s The Last of England, exhibited in 1855 (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). The picture was bought by the present vendor at the sale of Sir David’s remarkable and comprehensive collection following his widow’s death in 2006.