Study for 'The Reconciliation of the Montagues and the Capulets..': Composition

Drawing details

Title: Study for 'The Reconciliation of the Montagues and the Capulets..': Composition
Date: c.1854
Media: Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour, with some gum on paper
Dimensions: 39.7 x 51.8 cm
Location: Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven
Picture credit: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Reference number: B1976.1.56
Inscriptions: Monographed and dated lower right "18 FL 54" in pencil, traced over in brown ink. Watermarked "I HONIG LION".

Interpretation

The additional figure, apparently morning for Paris, may represent the servant of Paris, mentioned in Shakespeare's play.

Description

Study for the entire composition. The figure of Paris seems to be drawn from a different model to the figure in the finished work. Also, he is seated further to the right and his head is tilted to his right. Another figure, not seen in the final painting, squats down next to the corpse with his arms around the figure os Paris. 

Provenance

Sold through Jeremy Maas (dealer and author); collection of Lincoln Kirstein (American dance and theatre executive and writer, 1907-1996); collection of the American Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford, Connecticut until 1975; acquired by the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven in 1976 

Bibliography

• Anderson, Ross, editor, 'A Brush with Shakespeare: The Bard in Painting: 1780-1910', Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, 1986, illustration 23, p.19, 94
• Ashton, Geoffrey "Shakespeare and British Art", Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, 1981, illustrated p.125, catalogue number 90
• Christian, John (editor), 'Shakespeare in Western Art', Tokyo Shimbun, Tokyo, 1992, illustrated p.142, p.190, catalogue number 74
• Staley, Allan (introduction), "Victorian High Renaissance", Minneapolis I 

Exhibition history

• 23 April 1981 to 5 June 1981, 'Shakespeare and British Art', Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, catalogue number: 90
• 29 October 1992 to 24 November 1992, 'Shakespeare in Western Art', Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, catalogue number 74
• 28 November 1992 to 23 December 1992, 'Shakespeare in Western Art', Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Mito, catalogue number 74
• 9 January 1993 to 8 February 1993, 'Shakespeare in Western Art', Kintetsu Museum of Art, Nara, catalogue number 74
• 19 February 1993 t