In The Pale Complexion of Love, Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale draws on the words of Shakespeare to construct one of her first major oil paintings, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899. Two seated noble figures are presented to a viewer, in what is anything but an amicable relationship - the man leans forward to gather the folds of the woman's dress close to him, as she sits as far away as possible, holding his gift of a necklace close to her face for inspection, and offering a displeasing look in response. Fortescue Brickdale has successfully constructed two unique characters, whilst using vivid Pre-Raphaelite colours at the beginning of her career, to make her name on the RA stage and earn herself commissions and further patronage. The quote is in fact taken from Shakespeare's As You Like It, despite the frame recording it as being from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Fortescue Brickdale seems to reference the Shakespearean text more fully in her painting than the frame impl...