For me, The Progress of a Soul by Phoebe Anna Traquair is one of the highlights of the Scottish National Gallery. Traquair’s embroidered polyptych panel series shows the progress of a young boy through life, death and into the beyond. These embroidered panels took nine years to complete from 1899 to 1902 and come together to form one of her most renowned artworks.
The first panel, The Entrance, is full of verdant life. Plump, wine-red grapes hang from curling vines framing a youthful boy clothed in a leopard hide, playing a golden harp. A round of robins encircles his head whilst a young hare and a butterfly play at his feet. This is a scene of youth and innocent enthusiasm. The second panel, The Stress, shows the infiltration of evil and harm into the boy’s life. A snake, or the symbol of original sin, winds itself around the boy’s ankles. The grapes have darkened and are beginning to rot whilst disembodied hands tug and break at the natural life in the scene. Even the rabbit has been culled by a large bird. The boy is now a man, burdened by ruinous outside forces; he struggles to break free from their grasp.
The penultimate scene is one of despair and anguish. Our figure collapses lifelessly amongst the branches. The once-green leaves have browned; the birds have stilled, their heads bowed. The snake had bound the man’s legs tightly, and its head had torn through the harp strings, so it could no longer play. Frustration and exhaustion at earthly struggles have gained the upper hand. Yet, all is not lost! The last panel explodes with colour; we, the figure in the scene, are embraced by a crimson-winged angel. Hope, represented through a rainbow, encircles where once the serpent was. Our earthly merits matter not in the arms of a higher power.
See for yourself at the Scottish National Gallery.
Illustration by Amelia Patterson for The Student.
