Frederick Cayley Robinson: Acts of Mercy
14 July 2010 – 17 October 2010
Sunley Room  Frederick Cayley Robinson’s masterpiece, ‘Acts of Mercy’ (1916–20),
comprises four large-scale allegorical works, which memorably explore
the positive forces of the human spirit in the face of destruction.
Cayley Robinson (1862–1927) is one of the most distinctive and yet
elusive British painters of the early 20th century. Essentially a
British Symbolist, Robinson created a striking variety of mood and
atmosphere in his paintings to evoke complex emotional responses About the paintings
The four panels on display were executed as a commission for the new
Middlesex Hospital. Two of the works represent the traumatic effects of
conflict on patients sent back from the First World War. A doctor is
thanked by a kneeling mother, echoing traditional images of the
Adoration or Crucifixion.
The other pair of panels shows the refectory of an orphanage. In one
picture girls sit at a table reminiscent of Leonardo’s ‘Last Supper’ –
their stillness and steady gazes recall Dutch 17th-century painting.
The paintings were purchased by the Wellcome Trust in 2007 – they are
usually on public display in the Wellcome Library in Euston.
‘Frederick Cayley Robinson: Acts of Mercy’ is a National Gallery
Sunley Room exhibition created in collaboration with Tate Britain.
Frederick Cayley Robinson, 'Acts
of Mercy: Orphans II', about 1915
© Photo Wellcome Library Tomado de: http://nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/frederick-cayley-robinson-acts-of-mercy
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