Study for 'Lieder Ohne Worte': Composition

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Drawing details

Title: Study for 'Lieder Ohne Worte': Composition
Date: c.1859
Media: Black and white chalk on blue paper
Dimensions: 59.5 x 38.5 cm
Location: Leighton House Museum
Picture credit: Leighton House Museum, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Reference number: LHO/D/0834

Interpretation

This drawing was displayed in the Silk Room in 1899. A tracing of it also exists at Leighton House Museum (reference number LHO/D/0835).

Description

Study for the composition of the painting 'Lieder Ohne Worte' (c.1860, Tate). This study is very similar to the composition of the finished work. The only differences are that the decoration on the pitchers to the lower left is not included in the drawing, the fountain to the lower right is shaped like a lions head, whereas it's just a round opening in the painting, and the face of the central figure is more feminine than the painting. 

 

Bibliography

• Barrington, Mrs. Emilie Isabel, 'Catalogue: Lord Leighton's House and What it Contains', 1900, reprinted as part of 'A Collection of Essays on Lord Leighton and his Works with Illustrated Catalogue of the Contents of Leighton House', privately published, London, 1900-01, p.165 catalogue number 36a
• Gere, Charlotte, et al., 'A Victorian Master: Drawings by Frederic, Lord Leighton', Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 2006, p.54 catalogue number 3.1 (illustrated)
• Ormond, Leon+e and Richard,  

Exhibition history

• 09 April 1900 to at least 1936, 'The Leighton House Collection' (intended to be a permanent display), Leighton House Museum, London, catalogue number 36a (exhibited in the Silk Room)
• 08 November 2006 to 25 February 2007, 'A Victorian Master: Drawings by Frederic, Lord Leighton', Leighton House Museum, London, catalogue number 3.1

Reproductions

38216