Catalogue essay by Blanche Llewellyn

In their analysis of Sorrowful Women (‘Threads coming together’ published in 2019), Anna Vesaluoma and Maria Vittoria Pellini describe the painting as follows:
“In a still moment in time, three women of different ages pose in a staged interior setting on a patterned floor and with an arched alcove behind them. They appear detached from the space and have a heavy and solid materiality to them. The field of unusual turquoise flattens the image, but the accents of red guide the viewer’s eye into the space. Time is suspended.”
Sorrowful Women was painted by Annie Walke, most likely in the early 1920s. An inscription on the cross-bar of the stretcher—“Ann Walke / Sorrowful Women, St Hilary / W Marazion Cornwall”—indicates the work was created during Walke’s residence in St Hilary’s Church as the wide of the incumbent, Bernard Walke. The title may relate to events in Walke’s personal life, such as the deaths of her sisters, Ethel in 1914 and Hilda in 1917, reflecting either her own grief or the broader female experience of mourning during a period marked by uncertainty and loss.
Bernard Walke, praised women’s resilience during wartime, observing: “I have attended many deaths, and many times have I watched the endurance and courage of women who have stood, like the Marys at the cross, witnessing scenes that would have tested the courage of the bravest of men.”
The women’s reflective and collected demeanor contrasts with portrayals by male artists, who often depict women in states of uncontainable grief, hopelessness or despair (i.e Georges Clausen, Youth Mourning, 1916).
The painting incorporates traditional Western religious symbolism. The central figure’s serene posture and lowered gaze evoke the Virgin Mary, reinforced by Christian iconography such as an open book, a rosary, a near-life-size crucifix, and an arched alcove reminiscent of a chapel. Domestic elements like the purple chair contrast with ecclesiastical features, merging everyday life with religious devotion. Given Annie Walke’s known spirituality, the painting might itself be considered a form of prayer.
The patterned floor introduces non-European influences, potentially referencing Native American motifs brought to Cornwall by returning miners or the tradition of Anatolian carpets in Western religious art. Vesaluoma and Pellini suggest Walke may even have encountered such designs during a 1923 visit to Spain.