Study for an Illustration for 'Ariadne at Naxos': Composition

Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Ariadne at Naxos': Composition
Date: c.1860
Media: Pencil on paper
Dimensions: 18.6 x 13.0 cm
Location: The British Museum, London
Picture credit: The Trustees of The British Museum, London
Reference number: 1897,0512.33
Inscriptions: Stamped lower left with the monogram "LLC" encircled, in black ink. (The stamp is cut in half horizontally by the edge of the paper, indicating that this sheet has been cut down.)

Interpretation

Leighton's illustration for 'Ariadne' was published in the 'Cornhill Magazine' in December 1860 to accompany a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (poet and essayist,1806-1861). The main image illustrates Ariadne "Watching, praying that the morning Might reveal her love returning". The small image in the lower panel of the ornate frame illustrates the line "But Ariadne sleeps, and never more shall wake!" [the 'Cornhill Magazine', July 1860, volume II, p.84-5, illustrated opposite p.84]

Description

Study for the composition of the illustration 'Ariadne' (1860, published in the 'Cornhill Magazine'). The composition is a mirror image of the illustration. From the corner of each pediment some fruit (possibly cherries) hang from a cord and a small bird hovers and pecks at each one. These are not included in the final design. 

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

• 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 254 (a)