Studies for 'Wedded': Composition, Male and Female Figures

Drawing details

Title: Studies for 'Wedded': Composition, Male and Female Figures
Date: c.1881-82
Media: Black and white chalk on brown paper
Dimensions: 21.5 x 22.4 cm
Location: The British Museum, London
Picture credit: Cockerell, Samuel Pepys (Foreward), `Drawings and Studies by the Late Lord Leighton of Stretton, P.R.A.', The Fine Art Society, 1898, plate 21
Reference number: 1897,0512.29

Description

Left of sheet: full-length nude study for the female figure to the left in the painting 'Wedded', (1881-82, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). The head of the male figure is also lightly sketched in. Right of sheet: study for the composition of the painting 'Wedded' (c.1881-82, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). 

Provenance

Bequeathed by the artist to his sisters, Mrs. Augusta Matthews (nTe Augusta Neunburg Leighton, 1835-1919) and Mrs. Alexandra Orr (nTe Alexandra Leighton, 1828-1903); purchased by the Fine Art Society in 1896; purchased from the Fine Art Society by The British Museum, London in 1897 (with 30 others drawings for a total of ú300) 

Bibliography

• 'Drawings and Studies by the Late Lord Leighton of Stretton, P.R.A.', The Fine Art Society, 1898, plate XXI
• Ormond, LeonTe and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, p.166 (listed under catalogue number 290)
• Staley, Edgcumbe, 'Lord Leighton of Stretton, P.R.A.', The Walter Scott Publishing Co., London, 1906, p.224 

Exhibition history

• 1901, 'Exhibition of Drawings and Sketches', The British Museum, London, catalogue number B 265