''Love Locked Out'' is an

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 ...

Anna Lea Merritt Anna Massey Lea Merritt (September 13, 1844 – April 7, 1930) was an American artist from Philadelphia who lived and worked in Great Britain for most of her life. A printmaker and painter of portraits, landscapes, and religious scenes, Merri ...

first exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in 1890 and which became the first painting by a woman artist acquired for the British national collection through the

Chantrey Bequest Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

Merritt Anna Lea Eve 1885 Oil On Canvas-large

The painting of

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...

standing before a locked door was well received when it was shown. Merritt's first painting of a nude model, ''Eve Overcome with Remorse'', had met with unfavourable reviews after winning a medal at the Royal Academy in 1885. But this painting, which was created as a memorial to her husband, was received favourably, though it again featured a nude model - and this time the model was male, a controversial subject for women artists at that time. Merritt escaped censure by choosing a child to portray Cupid, rather than an adult, such as her ''Eve'' had been. As a notable work by an American painter, ''Love Locked Out'' was included in the 1905 book '' Women Painters of the World''. The title also became the title for the compilation of Anna Lea Merritt's memoires, published by Galina Gorokhoff in 1982."Love locked out: the memoirs of Anna Lea Merritt with a checklist of her works", edited by Galina Gorokhoff, Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, 1982

References

{{19C-painting-stub 1890 paintings American paintings British paintings Collection of the Tate galleries Paintings of Cupid