“Till We Meet Again”
{ Jane Elizabeth Manning }
Painted by Elspeth Young
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When Joseph [Smith] went to Carthage [Illinois] to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination [in June 1844], he said: 'I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men.
'I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me--he was murdered in cold blood.'
The story behind Till We Meet Again
She endured persecutions leveled at Church members in the 1840s, and when the Church and its members were driven from Nauvoo in 1846, Manning was among those who endured the mid-winter hardships of expulsion from Nauvoo as well as the ordeal of the 1300-mile trek to the desert valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Selecting a moment in which to portray such a life was difficult, but out of all Manning endured perhaps the most poignant moment of grief came June 1844 when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were martyred in Carthage, Illinois.
Manning once described Brother Joseph as "the finest man I ever saw on earth," a man of kindness and caring who "never passed me without shaking hands with me wherever he was...Every time he saw me, he would say, "God bless you.'"
This full-length portrait presents Manning as she might have appeared in the brilliant sunshine of that June day ("smitten and mourning" as one contemporary described Nauvoo's inhabitants), standing in the deathly hush as the creaking of the wagon bed moved slowly down the street, bringing home the marred and blood-stained bodies of Joseph and Hyrum. "I liked to a died myself," said Manning. "I will never forget that time of agony and sorrow."
The moment in this painting is the moment when Manning, like everyone in Nauvoo, stood at a crossroads. Some turned away from the awful scenes and eventually fell away from the Church, but when Jane turned away to pick up the threads of a shattered life, she gave herself anew to that for which these brothers died and never did turn back. All the heroism that followed, and there was much, flowed from the decision she made then, and kept making, through all the days and all the moments ever after.
God be with you till we meet again;From "God Be With You Till We Meet Again," text by Jeremiah E. Rankin (1828-1904)
When life's perils thick confound you,
Put his arms unfailing round you.
God be with you till we meet again.
Symbolism in Till We Meet Again
Much of the area of the painting is engulfed in shadow, like the darkness that combined in the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. And in that darkness, we can see nothing of home or comfort or security, nothing of the hopes and dreams that were embodied in the founding of the city of Nauvoo in 1840 on the eastern shores of the Mississippi.
There is no gate in the fence by which to return to the past. And the sunshine in the painting is not just the sunlight falling like tears on the streets of the city; but it further represents the searing sunshine bathing boundless prairies and treeless deserts beyond the Rocky Mountains where many who watched that day, as Jane did, would either be buried or would bury their own loved ones in shallow, frozen, unmarked graves that only wolves would ever find. In that sense, the sunshine is also the same light by which night's curtain has been parted every day since then; days in which the great latter-day work begun by Joseph Smith has continued reaching out to fill the earth. And in that latter sense, not only the sunlight in the painting, but the gate-less fence, hems the darkness in. For all of the travails from that day to this are but the stirrings of the sunrise of the long-awaited Millennial Day toward which the prophets of all the ages have looked down.
The sinuous vine of red roses trailing behind the figure--Rosa gallica--was indigenous to western Illinois at the time of the martyrdom. They symbolize the life of Joseph Smith, both for the glory and beauty of their bloom, as well as being a token of the traditional folk tune, "The Last Rose of Summer," listed among the Prophet's favorite songs by his good friend, Benjamin F. Johnson.
Copyright and terms of use
© By Elspeth Young, All Rights Reserved. You may not print, copy, or reproduce this artwork or make derivative works from it without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. For permissions, please review our FAQ page.From the Newsroom
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the story in this painting
the creation of this paintingOriginal artworks produced by the Artists of Al Young Studios are part of themed collections because the Studios is organized after the pattern of the Renaissance workshops of the old masters. The Artists take the long view of their work as being a lifetime journey toward mastery of artistic expression through selected techniques, reaching as far back as the 16th century. Artists work as peers in an intensely creative community in which each artist pursues his or her own work as part of the group's philosophy... Read more »
Tags: Till We Meet Again, 2020, Exhibits
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Tags: Till We Meet Again, 2015, Exhibits, News
By Al R. Young The original oil painting Till We Meet Again, by Elspeth Young, was recently purchased by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Inasmuch as all copyrights to the painting remain the property of the artist, paper prints and giclee-canvas reproductions of the painting will remain available directly and exclusively from Al Young Studios. Requests to publish or otherwise reproduce the image in any manner should also be directed to Al Young Studios.
Laura Allred Hurtado, global acquisitions art curator for the Church, explained that one of the primary objectives in the Church's acquisition of art is its focus on the breadth of cultures represented in the growing, worldwide membership of the Church, and the significant contributions made by representatives of those cultures throughout Church history... Read more »
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By Elspeth C. Young Biographical and other information appearing here, as well as links to other sites, are provided as a public service.
While we welcome feedback concerning this page and will do our best to consider and perhaps resolve anything thought to be in error;
time may not permit acknowledgment of inquiries and comments received, or correspondence concerning disputed details and perspectives.
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Tags: Till We Meet Again, 2015
By Al R. Young Till We Meeting Again, an original oil painting by Elspeth Young, received an Award of Merit at the 90th Annual Spring Salon hosted by the Springville Museum of Art, Springville, Utah.
The juried exhibit (April 24 – July 6, 2014) is open only to Utah artists.
Of 860 entries submitted, 216 were juried-in to the show, and 20 of the works selected also received awards.
"We've noticed," said Rita Wright, director of the Museum, "that, almost without exception, everybody that walks into the gallery, enjoys Legacy (Portrait of Lois Childs) by Casey Childs (the first axial view in the exhibit), and then turns right around, and immediately migrates to the corner to view Till We Meet Again... Read more »
Tags: Till We Meet Again, 2014, Exhibits, News, Pioneer Art Collection
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Click here to see a larger image of the new painting, read the artist's commentary, and look at the selection of prints--if any are available.... Read more »
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