''The Gilded Cage'' is a 1919

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

Evelyn De Morgan Evelyn De Morgan (30 August 1855 – 2 May 1919), née Pickering, was an English painter associated early in her career with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, and working in a range of styles including Aestheticism and Symbolis ...

. It was her final work before her death later in the year. In the painting a woman looks out a window. Her outstretched hand forms a gesture of yearning as she watches a group of dancers and musicians. The principal figure among the travelling group is a woman who dances while holding her baby, suggesting that the scene also represents maternal duty. Broken jewelry and a book lay on the floor. A bird soars free about the dancers, which contrasts sharply to the captive bird in the gilded cage hanging near the woman's distraught older husband.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilded Cage Modern paintings 1919 paintings Paintings in South East England Paintings by Evelyn De Morgan Birds in art Dance in art Musical instruments in art Books in art