In collaboration with ‘Dramatizing Penshurst’, the aim of this project is to create a painting that illustrates Lady Mary Wroth’s (1587-1652) play Love’s Victory (c.1617), a pastoral tragicomedy. The course is officially held at Kent Adult Education Centre in Sevenoaks and the students and tutors will periodically visit Penshurst Place.

The composition of the painting will capture a scene or embrace the ambiance of the play. The interpretation of the play is completely in the artists’ hands as they can either paint a realistic view that describes a scene or in an abstract manner that suggests the complexity of the plot. This will include a great deal of creative thinking, life drawing, gathering reference, painting light and tone, and proportion.

The artist will complete a life drawing class with a model who will take poses which illustrate different scenes of the play. The artists will also get to read through summaries of the love plots given in the verses from The Book of Fortunes and some of the riddles, and discuss the story with a chance to work through ideas of how to approach the artwork using sketchbooks: abstract, realism, using text, coloured papers, texture, layering, etc. The artists will then commence painting with the group’s work culminating in an exhibition of paintings in the Garden Restaurant at Penshurst Place.

Two groups have completed the project ‘Painting the Play’, where a number of Liz Chapman’s students have taken a more holistic viewpoint and worked in abstract, while others have taken a section of the play and constructed an image portraying this.

Penshurst, an early afternoon in May. by Jane O’Nions

Our knowledge of Love’s Victory comes to us through two surviving manuscripts, only one of which is complete – Penshurst Manuscript, which has been in the Sydney family since its creation around 1620. This copy of the text, of the written words of Mary Wroth, is our connection back to the Jacobean Era. By choosing to depict Love’s Victory as I have, I am making explicit this cherished link: the is composed words; my artwork is literally an illustration of these letters in a style appropriate to a pastoral drama. It thus acts as a direct reflection of the artistic mode of the original creation. by Alice Clarke

This piece depicts the play Love’s Victory by Lady Wroth. The jigsaw pieces joined together by string represent the complexity of the story. Superimposed over the jigsaw pieces are representations of the characters. Elements of the plot are also represented such as the potion which lovers Philisses and Musella drink with the intention of killing themselves. by Janet Lewis

Our knowledge of Love’s Victory comes to us through two surviving manuscripts, only one of which is complete – Penshurst Manuscript, which has been in the Sydney family since its creation around 1620. This copy of the text, of the written words of Mary Wroth, is our connection back to the Jacobean Era. By choosing to depict Love’s Victory as I have, I am making explicit this cherished link: the is composed words; my artwork is literally an illustration of these letters in a style appropriate to a pastoral drama. It thus acts as a direct reflection of the artistic mode of the original creation. by Alice Clarke

odern Women Though written in the 17th century, the central themes of Lady Mary’s play Love’s Victories are instantly recognisable today. These themes include choosing a partner in life based on mutual love and respect rather than a commercial arrangement, understanding the different forms of love, the role of women in a wider community (the pastoral setting) and female friendship. This visual interpretation of the play highlights these elements and focuses on the modernity of the ideas Lady Mary portrays. Three females are given central stage – Lady Mary herself, Mussella who is the lead shepherdess in the play and Venus, who is directing and educating the play’s characters on the benefits of mutual love. These themes are timely given that it is 100 years since some women were given the vote in the UK and that it is also around 400 years since Lady Mary wrote Love’s Victories. Collage and watercolour by Rosalind Pearson

Listening to the play, the altar of love seemed a powerful image to me. I wanted to depict the emotions both positive and negative that come from the experience of love by the characters in the play. The heart became the main focus of this and the arrows portray the main emotions. I hope the final piece sums up the joy and pain of love shown in this play. by Gill Hall

Musella and Philisses meet in the woods but then decide that their love is hopeless and that they will take their own lives in the Temple of Venus. by Jane O’Nions

The Vortex of Love Venus through Cupid is successfully creating chaos and a swirl of emotions amongst the shepherds and shepherdesses. The grand plan is to educate and help them make informed choices about their partners based on love rather than a commercial arrangement. Collage, acrylic, pastel and pen by Rosalind Pearson

LADY MARY WROTH (LOVE’S VICTORY c. 1618) (A jigsaw of Love) This mixed media piece represents the tangled web of mortal lovers manipulated by Venus and Cupid. Venus the Goddess of love is to be found in words and lines from the play. Cupid sets out to make the mortals suffer for their love thus creating a jigsaw that never seems to fit and with pieces missing. Quotations, words and music of the time, try to show the feeling and tempestuous rivalry that runs through the play, always being strongly controlled by Venus and Cupid. As a light-hearted touch to this complicated tale, please open the card. by Lyn Witton

Love’s tangled web Lady Mary Wroth’s play portrays a complex and, at times, confusing picture of individuals looking for and ultimately finding true love after enduring a number of ‘lessons’ from the Goddess Venus through Cupid. The idea of a spider’s web is to highlight that the path to true love is not straightforward. Ultimately, four couples came together having learned about companionate love through Cupid’s interventions. Watercolour and ink by Rosalind Pearson

How doth thou’st resolve thy dilemma having created thou confusion of love ? To evoke such emotion amongst these mere mortals has thrown them into disdainful chaos. Cupid you have stirred and playfully re arranged the path of true love to which there can be no satisfactory end ! However the excitement and furore that is emanated from this helped me to produce my final piece. Incorporating the many facets of this play in all its crazy chaotic fashionI have tried to portray a culmination of the varying emotions . Finally portraying Phylissus and Musella accepting their love for each other. The medium I used is a mixture of acrylics collage and textures depicting the standard of life these mortals experienced . The love for one another being tossed up in a vortex . Shakespeare’s Garrick temple illustrated in the background was just to depict the style and era of the writing The book of fortunes exploding in the air hoping for some answers and explanations The tree signifies the ever changing seasons of love The moon giving light and some clarity The music notes symbolising the emotion. By Eileen Dickinson

LADY MARY WROTH (LOVE’S VICTORY c. 1618) (A jigsaw of Love) This mixed media piece represents the tangled web of mortal lovers manipulated by Venus and Cupid. Venus the Goddess of love is to be found in words and lines from the play. Cupid sets out to make the mortals suffer for their love thus creating a jigsaw that never seems to fit and with pieces missing. Quotations, words and music of the time, try to show the feeling and tempestuous rivalry that runs through the play, always being strongly controlled by Venus and Cupid. As a light-hearted touch to this complicated tale, please open the card. by Lyn Witton

About Liz Chapman M.A. Fine Art. Cert.Ed.
After studying at Reigate School of Art and Design, Liz worked in architectural design and draughtsmanship, before moving on to book illustration. Since 1992 she has worked part time as an Art Tutor and part time as an Artist, and spent the last three years in the north west coast of Scotland painting landscapes. She taught initially at West Kent College (where she also achieved a Cert.Ed), then Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells Adult education Centre and now Sevenoaks. Liz achieved a Masters Degree in Fine Art at Brighton University in 2004, and has exhibited nationally.