This painting by Walter Crane depicts a young brunette woman named Laura reading a small book. Without understanding the context of this painting, one would immediately notice the white and green dress that Laura is wearing, along with the design of the wall and the floor. The Middle Eastern-style attire and the room design are examples of Orientalism in Victorian art, which would be expected, considering the vast British Empire and exchanges between Europe and Asia during the Victorian era.
The woman in Crane’s painting is commonly believed to be Laura de Noves, a French noblewoman that the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, commonly known as Petrarch, who was born in Arezzo, Italy, but was raised in Avignon, France, had an unrequited love for, similar to another Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, best known for the Divine Comedy, and his famous love for Beatrice Portinari. Although Laura ended up marrying Count Hugues de Sade, the ancestor of the French libertine writer Marquis de Sade, she became the inspiration for many of Petrarch’s sonnets.
Crane’s portrayal of Laura seems to have been inspired by his wife, Mary Frances Crane (née Andrews), revealing his devotion for her by portraying her through a lesser-known love that inspired another artist.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Laura Reading is not simply that a woman is reading a book, but what her presence makes us question. For centuries, women have frequently existed in historical narratives as someone's muse, someone's inspiration or someone's ideal. But who were these women beyond the identities assigned to them? Laura's representation allows us to explore the distinction between being admired and being understood, between being represented and having a voice of one's own. Ultimately, the painting reminds us that an individual is far more than the image another person constructs of them.
