Fallen Women in Victorian Art

This article shows the highlighted negativity that was associated with the “fallen woman” during the Victorian Era. During the Victorian Era, it was finally socially acceptable to use this as a subject in paintings and art. These were meant to be used as warnings for all women out there—to see the potential downfall that was ahead of you if you didn’t stay virtuous. Going through time, you can see a slight shift in the subjects and stories behind these paintings. At first, it is one young woman being cast away by her father and family (Richard Redgraves, The Outcast). It then moves to the subject of a married woman, having been unfaithful to her husband and her family (Augustus Egg, Past and Present). These paintings of the time continue to get more complex in nature, as shown in Rossetti’s Found, which portrays a man trying to bring his past love, a current prostitute, back home. Yet, she is resisting. This shows a greater complexity, thinking that this may be a choice by the woman—she doesn’t want the constraint of a marriage. There is another painting which shows a “fallen woman” drowned because of assumed feelings of guilt (George Fredrick Watts', Found Drowned). Lastly, and even farther along in the Victorian Era, we have the painting Take Your Son, Sir, by Ford Madox Brown. Here the subject of the painting is making the man take some form of responsibility for the child, by giving the child into his arms.

Associated Place(s)

Event date:

circa. 1851