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Dead Nun

Maker Gwen John (British, 1876 - 1939)

Additional Title(s)

Dead Nun
Nun sleeping

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Datelate 1910's

Mediumwatercolor, charcoal and crayon over pencil on paper

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextThe older sister of Augustus John, Gwen followed her brother to the Slade School in 1895. By 1904, John had settled in Paris, where she soon became emotionally involved with the sculptor Auguste Rodin for whom she modeled. In 1911, she moved to Meudon, outside of Paris, to be closer to his country house. Two years later she converted to Roman Catholicism. A painter in both oils and watercolors, she restricted herself to a very few subjects after 1911, one of them being portraits of nuns belonging to the order of Soeurs de Charité Dominicaines de la Présentation de la Sainte Vierge de Tours. This work, however, is a portrayal in death rather than in life. In this depiction of a nun attired for her final rest, the simple honesty of the presentation contributes to the image's peacefulness, turning a potentially depressing subject into a sympathetic rendering of the passage of life.

Object number94.16