'O Swallow, Swallow', John Melhuish Strudwick

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This painting was inspired by lines from Tennyson’s ‘The Princess’ about a swallow flying south with a message from the poet to his beloved. She sits in a richly painted, intricately decorated interior awaiting the message from the bird, which is seen through the open window. Strudwick was a follower of Burne-Jones| but his work is more intimate and packed with detail. This is the second of the paintings commissioned by George Holt from Strudwick for Sudley.