15) “The Portrait” by Margaret Oliphant
Plot:
Our hero, Philip Canning, tells the reader that he lived with his father at The Grove, a Queen Anne-style place, “a large old house in the immediate neighborhood of a little town,” that is being torn down as he writes to make way for townhouses.
Philip’s mother died during his birth, and aside from a motherly maid, Mrs. Weir, he grew up in a house without a woman. Morphew, the butler, looked after his and his father’s needs.
After school, he went abroad for work, but returned after seven or eight years “invalided,” in bad health and in poor spirits, “disappointed with my first trial in life.”
While he and his father weren’t close, they got along well enough. Philip didn’t have to make a living, but he was bummed that at thirty, he was hanging around the house. His father, at seventy, was hanging around the house, too, but he was busy. A lot of mail made its way to the house.
One day, a life-size portrait of a lovely young girl arrived. Mr. Canning Senior explained that it was from a cousin of Philip’s mother, with whom he did not get along. The cousin had recently passed away and willed the painting to Philip’s father.
The two of them hang it on a wall in a drawing room that hasn’t been used much. It gave the appearance that she might step off the painting into the room.
Philip’s father explains the young lady is Philip’s mother. This didn’t occur to Philip. The reader has probably been shouting it at him.
Later, when Philip is reading alone in his room, he feels his “heart leap.” He has no idea what’s going on, but some unseen force is leading him to his father in his library. Once he gets there, his heart calms down, but he can’t explain what bringing him to the library.
Thoughts:
This is a slow burn of a tale. Even after the fire is lit, it mostly smolders. After reading about Philip’s early life, perhaps one-third of the way through the narrative, when the heart-leaping starts, the reader is told something to the effect of, “And here is where my story begins.”
The story is told with sadness and a request for compassion for the less fortunate, especially family members, even if your own life is not ideal.
While this is not a long piece, I think many 21st-century readers, particularly those not used to Victorian literature, will find it a slog. It is a while before something interesting happens, and even then, it’s more confusing than interesting.
I found the story long and the ending predictable, but not unpleasant. It was a nice, easy read, but the length may put off most readers.
This story can be read here:
This story can be listened to here: (1:46:36)
Bio: Mrs. Margaret Oliphant’s (1828-1897) literary output totals nearly two hundred works, including novels, short fiction, and various articles. She cranked them out, in part, to pay the bills.
She lost her husband to tuberculosis (then referred to as “consumption”). Three of their six children died before reaching adulthood. Oliphant outlived even those who did. She also supported an alcoholic brother, Willie, and another brother, Frank, after his bankruptcy, in addition to various nieces and nephews.
Her early novels include a sensation novel, Salem Chapel. Later in life, she wrote supernatural stories. Most of her work reflects her Scottish heritage and her religious reverence, as well as the personal tragedies she suffered.
Happily, she developed a close relationship with the Blackwoods of Blackwood’s Magazine, who would at times offer her assignments in addition to publishing her short stories and serialized novels.
Title: “The Portrait”
Author: Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897)
First published: The Open Door, and the Portrait: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen, 1881
Length: novelette
