Sheet of Notes

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Drawing details

Title: Sheet of Notes
Date: c.1872-73
Media: Silverpoint on paper
Dimensions: 12.3 x 7.2 cm
Location: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
Picture credit: Courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Friends of the Fogg Art Museum Fund
Reference number: 1946.35.2
Inscriptions: Inscribed "Libraria Veaf / W. Dobinson / 25 Montague Sq / raw [illegible] stretched / but not sized - Russell Square / take book binders paste / (flour) well boiled. Mix / with oil - add gesso / whiting - then flake / white in powder - then / mix th

Interpretation

Recipe, probably for creating a plaster surface for 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to Peace'. When working on 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to War', Leighton adopted the spirit fresco technique devised by Thomas Gambier in 1862. However, he found it difficult to work on the rough surface it created and developed a new method for his second fresco for the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). Sadly, this surface did not survive well and the fresco is now heavily restored.

Description

Page from a sketchbook with notes by Leighton. 

Provenance

Purchased by the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, from Geoffrey Steele (antiquarian bookseller, c.1907-2000) from his bookshop at RFD 1, Mahopac, New York, in 1946 for $6.00.