The Long Engagement《永久的婚約》

譯/愛藝

The Long Engagement (oil on canvas,107cm × 53.3cm, 1859) is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes. The painting was originally titled “Orlando”.

[2] In an overgrown forest setting,a curate meets his fiancée. The man stands in the shadow of the tree and the woman looks at her name carved into the bark of the tree. Their hands are clasped together and a faithful dog stands at their feet staring up at them.

[3] The title refers to middle class social conventions of the time, in particular the fact that the parents of a girl engaged to a poorly paid curate would typically not allow the marriage until he had secured a more remunerative position—i.e. within the church hierarchy. The girl is depicted looking at her own name (Amy) carved,some while ago, into the trunk of the tree by her fiancé as an expression of his love. The carving, however, is about to be covered by rambling ivy growing up the trunk; ethereal youthful passion is becoming lost to worldly capitalist demands. It can be said that this symbolism reflects the stark realities of late 1850s and 1860s Victorian England,which certainly is the observation made by English historian A. N. Wilson.In his book The Victorians (London:Arrow Books, 2003), Wilson makes the following observation and analysis of the signif i cance of The Long Engagement:

《永久的婚約》（布面油畫，107厘米×53.3厘米，1859）是拉斐爾前派畫家阿瑟·休斯的作品。該畫最初名為“奧蘭多”。［圖見本期封底］

[2]植被蔓生的叢林一角，一個助理牧師在與未婚妻約會。小伙子站立在樹蔭下，姑娘則望向刻在樹皮上的她的名字。兩人的手緊緊相握，腳邊站著一只忠實的狗狗，仰頭盯著他們。

[3]畫名指向當時中產階級的社會風俗，特別是這樣一種現實：雖然女孩與收入微薄的助理牧師訂了婚，但小伙子往往需要謀到收入更豐的職位，即進入教會管理層，女孩的父母才會同意他們結婚。畫中女孩看著樹干上刻著的自己的名字（艾米），那是不久前她的未婚夫為示愛而刻上的。不過，那刻字已快被沿樹干攀生的藤蔓覆蓋了，而縹緲的青春激情也將逐漸消散在世俗的物質需求中。可以說，這種象征描繪反映了1850年代末和1860年代維多利亞時代英格蘭的殘酷現實，而這無疑也是英國歷史學家A.N.威爾遜所關注的。在《維多利亞時代》（倫敦：阿羅出版社，2003）一書中，威爾遜對畫作《永久的婚約》的意義做了如下觀察和分析：

It depicts an emotional predicament stemming directly from an economic situation. The prosperity which had created the vast bourgeoisie with its gradations from lower to upper middle class had also created a code. You could not marry, and maintain the position in society to which you aspired, until you had a certain amount of money in the bank.(p. 260)

[4] Hughes had finished an earlier painting, April Love, of a similar theme.The Long Engagement was given to the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in the will of a “Dr Griff i ths” in 1902, and has remained in the collection to present day. ■

該畫描繪的是經濟境況直接導致的情感困擾。經濟繁榮曾造就了廣大的資產階級，使他們從下層中產上升到上層中產，這一繁榮同時也創建了一種規則。必須擁有一定數額的銀行存款，你才能結婚成家，并維持住你所追求的社會地位。（第260頁）

[4]休斯此前創作過一幅類似主題的畫，名為《四月之戀》。1902年，遵從某位“格里菲思博士”的遺愿，《永久的婚約》一畫被贈予伯明翰博物館和美術館，獲藏至今。 □