Women's Reading and Space in Robert Braithwaite Martineau'sThe Last Chapter

Abstract

The subject of women readers has seen a growth of interest in recent years, with contributions including accounts of women's reading practices, representations of women readers in painting and literature and the value of feminism to studies of reading. This essay examines the representation of a woman reader in The Last Chapter (1863), a painting by the Victorian artist Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1826-69). Going beyond existing interpretations of the work, I argue that this ambiguous painting represents not a visual illustration of a particular type of reader, as has been suggested, but an evocation of spaces constructed through reading. Central to my discussion therefore is the issue of reading spaces and the idea of space as the point at which physical and mental aspects of the reading process coincide. I compare examples of fictional accounts of reading, in particular the one found in Jane Eyre, to Martineau's painting to produce an interdisciplinary discussion of how women's reading spaces were conceived and represented in the nineteenth century, and of the related issues of subjectivity, exploration and escapism. across the canvas of The Last Chapter; each area becomes a surface to be read, the texture of the sumptuous dress begging to be explored and the artist inviting us to examine the reader's illuminated face. These pictorial ambiguities parallel some of those surrounding accounts of women's reading in the home, contemporary with Martineau's painting, especially in relation to space, as I will explore in this essay. I will discuss the issue of reading spaces -both literal and metaphorical -as they are staged in The Last Chapter,