April Love is a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Arthur Hughes

Arthur Hughes (artist)

Arthur Hughes , was an English painter and illustrator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He is the uncle of the English painter Edward Robert Hughes.-Biography:Hughes was born in London...

 which was created between 1855 and 1856. It was first exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1856.

At its first showing Hughes accompanied the painting with an extract from Tennyson's

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....

 poem "The Miller's Daughter":

Love is hurt with jar and fret,

Love is made a vague regret,

Eyes with idle tears are set,

Idle habit links us yet;

What is Love? For we forget.

Ah no, no.

Originally acquired by William Morris

William Morris

William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...

, the painting was purchased by the Tate Gallery, London (now Tate Britain

Tate Britain

Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...

) in 1909 and has remained in the Tate collection to the present day.

The painting depicts a young couple at a moment of emotional crisis. The male figure is barely visible, his head bent over the young woman's left hand. The woman is looking down at fallen blossoms, suggesting the end of spring, and of early and young love.

The model for the principal figure was Tryphena Ford, who Hughes married in 1855.