Manfred on the Jungfrau (Madox Brown)
painting by Ford Madox Brown
Manfred on the Jungfrau is an 1842 oil-on-canvas painting by the British artist Ford Madox Brown. It is inspired by Act I Scene II of Lord Byron's dramatic poem Manfred, probably most particularly the following:
... And you, ye crags upon whose extreme edge
I stand, and on the torrent's brink beneath
Behold the tall pines dwindled as to shrubs
In dizziness of distance, when a leap,
A stir, a motion, even a breath, would bring
My breast upon its rocky bosom's bed
To rest for ever – wherefore do I pause?
... Thou winged and cloud-cleaving minister,
Whose happy flight is highest into heaven,
Well may'st thou swoop so near me ...
... How beautiful is all this visible world!
How glorious in its action and itself!
The painting depicts the central character of the poem, Manfred, who is a noble and wealthy aristocrat, about to toss himself from the heights of the Jungfrau mountain. Manfred is, however, saved from death by a chamois hunter who happens upon him, and who is seen approaching in the background of the painting, clad in fur.
The public source identifies “Manfred on the Jungfrau (Madox Brown)” as painting by Ford Madox Brown. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Manfred, Jungfrau and Madox.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6748554. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1842.
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This entry incorporates text from “Manfred on the Jungfrau (Madox Brown)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.