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Solitude
Hand-painted oil reproduction from $181 39 × 26 cm
Same size as the original $1219 236 × 151 cm Order at original size →
The painting that made Robert Barrett Browning famous is Solitude (1879); it hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Of the 2 works by Robert Barrett Browning in our catalogue, these 2 are the most admired, each presented with its date, its museum and what sets it apart.
Ranked by our popularity score, which combines the searches, visits and orders for each work. Updated October 2026. Every masterpiece on this page can be ordered as a museum-quality, hand-painted oil reproduction or a fine art print, at the size you choose.
The museum that holds the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Robert Barrett Browning | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Museum of Fine Arts |
Boston | 1 | Solitude |
A decade of painting, 1879 to 1887, was all Robert Barrett Browning needed: here are its masterpieces, year by year.
Solitude (1879).
30 years old: Solitude dates from 1879 and Robert Barrett Browning was born in 1849.
Our catalogue lists 2 works by Robert Barrett Browning, dated from 1879 to 1887.
Most of them are in Museum of Fine Arts (Boston). The table above lists the museums one by one.
The earliest on this page is Solitude (1879), the latest Before the Mirror (1887).
Yes. Every painting on this page can be ordered as a museum-quality, hand-painted oil reproduction or a fine art print, in the size you choose, from the painting's own page.
The air in Casa Guidi, Florence, carries the weight of a specific morning on 9 March 1849. Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning arrives as a robust, rosy child, the long-awaited son of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. His very name, often shortened to Pen, stems from a childhood struggle to pronounce his middle name, Wiedeman. He grows up in an environment saturated with literature and art, moving between Florence, Siena, and Rome. His early years are defined by the intimate education provided by his parents, where even his clothing—velvet frocks and lace—is carefully curated by his mother.
A sudden shift occurs in 1861. The death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning forces a departure from the Italian life he knew. He moves to London, where his father attempts to steer him toward academic rigor at Christ Church College, Oxford. The intellectual demands of the university do not take hold. Instead, a different path emerges through the suggestion of John Everett Millais. This redirection leads him away from the lecture hall and toward the studios of Paris and Antwerp.
In the studios of Europe, the boy becomes a practitioner. He studies under Auguste Rodin in Paris and Jean-Arnould Heyermans in Antwerp. His focus settles on the human form, specifically the female nude. This choice brings him into tension with the social expectations of Victorian England. While he exhibits at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Grosvenor Gallery, and the Paris Salon, his preference for voluptuous subjects often sits at odds with more prudish sensibilities.
His work manifests in various media:
By 1887, he marries Fannie Coddington, an American heiress. Together, they undertake the restoration of Ca' Rezzonico, a Baroque palace on the Grand Canal in Venice. The palace becomes a central setting for his later life, housing both his art and his family's history.
The momentum of his professional career slows as his eyesight begins to fail. He retreats from the competitive art markets of London and Paris, returning to painting for personal pleasure rather than public sale. His later years are spent in the quietude of Asolo and Venice. He maintains a connection to his roots, caring for his aunt, Sarianna Browning, and preserving the legacy of his parents' manuscripts.
The end comes in Venice. A heart attack on 8 July 1912 brings a conclusion to a life lived largely within the shadow of great literary figures, yet defined by his own tactile engagement with clay and pigment. He is eventually laid to rest in the Protestant Cemetery in Florence, reunited with the mother whose letters once documented his every milestone.