Art and the Jade

This enigmatic picture depicts a minstrel, with his lute and scroll, resolutely turning his back on Fortune, symbolised by her wheel and a victor’s golden crown and laurels. Is his rejection of her deliberate? Is he remaining true to his vision, and set on an unwavering path? Or is he being negligent in not following Fortune on her road. Such differences in interpretation delighted contemporary audiences who liked to solve riddles. So- called `problem’ pictures deliberately invited comment and caused crowds to gather in animated discussion on exhibition days. A jade, in Edwardian parlance, evolved in its meaning from something worn out, as in a jaded horse, to a derogatory term for a woman who had lost her allure. Draper’s chosen title perhaps betrays his feeling that Fortune can turn and an artist should remain true to himself.

The subject was a vehicle for Draper to paint a partially clothed female nude – a genre in which he excelled and which came to define his career. Draper had originally considered depicting in this composition Anthony and Cleopatra, she proud and dominant, he seated and submissive, or Aurora and Tithonus, she divine, and he mortal and doomed. However, once he learnt that George Spencer Watson would submit The Dawn and Tithonus to the Royal Academy of 1908, he settled on the present subject and submitted the picture to the New Gallery of that year.