3-034-608 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Adversity," by J. D. Crittenden, 1871. 'This interesting and expressive work of art...gained the first silver medal, or highest prize, in the competitive exhibition at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, Falmouth. Its merit is of a kind which does not need to be pointed out by the art- critic, since it depends so much on the expression of moral feeling and character, which the common observer of human life, though unskilled in graphic or plastic design, is perfectly competent to appreciate...Mr. Crittenden's work is one of high excellence; and it is also worthy of commendation from an artistic point of view. "Adversity," we learn from Shakspeare, and sometimes from experience, has sweet and precious uses; it may often refine, purify, and elevate the mind; it may bring the moral sentiments into accord with duty and law; it may tune the whole nature to a finer harmony than would have been attained in a career of uninterrupted ease and success. The gentle face we see here shaped in marble is one that seems to assure us of such a salutary effect of past sorrow. It is as good as a sermon to these who can understand it; and no Puritan iconoclast will protest against the appeal to such an image for the suggestion of a religious idea'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.