Triptych: The Eve of St. Agnes (1856), by Arthur Hughes. (Reproduction)
Arthur Hughes’ “Triptych: The Eve of St. Agnes” is an oil paint on canvas painting, inspired by John Keats’ poem “The Eve of St. Agnes”, published in 1820. Hughes’ triptych painting depicts three separate scenes from Keats’ poem in which “Porphyro is shown into Madeline’s chamber by her nurse; in the centre, Madeline wakes from her dream and finds her imaginary lover is real; on the right, the pair escape from the castle” (artuk.org, “The Eve of St. Agnes”). The illustration of Keats’ poem through the form of triptych serves to bring the audience into the performance through that act of viewing the painting. Each scene depicted within the painting is drawn behind windows, and as we peer in through the triptych’s windows, we notice the windows illustrated within each of the three scenes. The audience mirrors the performances portrayed within each triptych, and joins the performance by interacting with the art. A triptych is typically painted on an alter, and the way a worshipper interacts with a triptych in church is ritual. Ritual is a form of efficacious or transformative performance – it is a performance that does more than just represent. In this piece, the ritual of performance is examined through the painting itself and in the relationship shared between the viewer and the art.