3-028-320 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Dinah Consoling Hetty in Prison," by F. J. Williamson, 1870. 'The very diverse characters of the two heroines are so exquisitely discriminated; the one is brought so low by her sin, sorrow, and misfortune; the other displays such ineffable unselfishness and Christian compassion...Mr. F. J. Williamson has represented the difficult incident he has chosen with much taste, feeling, and plastic ability in the alto-relievo at the Academy Exhibition, which we have engraved. The precise passage he has realised so adequately...runs thus "Slowly, while Dinah was speaking, Hetty rose, took a step forward, and was clasped in Dinah's arms. They stood so a long while, for neither of them felt the impulse to move apart again."...Dinah...stands erect in her purity, but the tenderest compassion modulates her expression...Hetty's beauty is of another and more earthly order...The love of finery, which helped to work her ruin, is also indicated by her more ornamental dress...embroidered petticoat, and bodice à la mode. The agony of shame and remorse which bows her head, and the contrast of Dinah's heroic forgiveness and compassion, admit of no comment more suitable than the few simple words with which the gifted authoress describes their painful meeting'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.