It is now in exhibition one of the compositions by Thomas Cooper Gotch representing one of the most important chorales in the Catholic church. Alleluia is one of the Gotch compositions that were painted at the end of the 19th century in style adopted after the travel of the artist in Italy, where he got impressed by the set-up adopted in the Italian churches.
The compositions by Gotch post-1892 takes focus on the themes of motherhood and child development; in the same composition with “Alleluia”, we have “The Child Enthroned” (1894), “The Heir to All The Ages “(1897), “A Pageant of Childhood” (1899, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) and “Holy Motherhood” (1902, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne).
As we can see he perfectly replicate the effect of a winged altarpiece painted oil on wood as an example the “Maestà del Duomo di Siena” of Duccio di Buoninsegna; also share a common hieratic style and reveal a symbolism of religious ritual.
Caused the artist to be linked with a contemporary revival of interest in English Pre-Raphaelitism.
In a long monographic article on Gotch written in 1910, the American critic, Charles Caffin, commented of Alleluia: ‘A touch of seriousness shadows Gotch’s vision. Where two rows of children in dresses of damask and brocade stand in front of a gilded architectural wainscot, singing the old Latin hymn of praise to God. In this modern “Cherub’s Choir” the artist has translated it into the symbolism of his idea of childhood, which is not merely a love of youth as a stationary aspect of life, but a step in the evolution of the individual and the race’ (Caffin, p.930).
The Windsor Magazine, in 1896 declared of Alleluia that: ‘Almost every Eastern and Western nation is represented in the rainbow robes which clothe the children’.
The Windsor Magazine, p.279, quoted in Wallace
Caffin, p.930
Alessandro Casagni 