Author: Nicholas Tromans
This book is about George Frederic Watts's most famous painting Hope, a work that was immediately acclaimed as representing the essence of the artist's vision when first exhibited in 1886. The image went on to be adopted by an entire generation as an emblem of spiritual aspiration in an age deprived of faith, and by the early twentieth century was recognised around the world. The book charts the picture's rise to fame and examines a wide range of encounters with this modern icon, from President Obama to the anonymous Victorians who claimed to have been saved by its message.
