Study for Decoration for 44 Belgrave Square, London: Frieze with Birds

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Drawing details

Title: Study for Decoration for 44 Belgrave Square, London: Frieze with Birds
Date: c.1870
Media: Pencil and watercolour on tracing paper
Dimensions: 3.8 x 13.9 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1189
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower centre "Frieze of birds" in pencil. Inscribed lower right "No 94" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

In 'Travels in South Kensington', M. D. Conway describes the 'grand staircase, which has ... at the top a deep frieze of cormorants, storks, and other wild birds' at 44 Belgrave Square, London. This tracing shows the composition for the frieze. The interior of 44 Belgrave Square, designed by George Aitchison (architect, 1825-1910) does not survive, and the current location of this frieze is not known. In this study the birds have been coloured with red and pink watercolour whereas Aitchison's drawing of the design, now in the RIBA Drawings Collection (reference number SB93/1), shows a similar composition in a colour scheme of blues and black. It is not known which colours are closer to those of the finished painting.

Description

Study for the composition of the frieze of birds for the staircase of 44 Belgrave Square, London (c.1870, untraced). 

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); presented to the Royal Academy of Arts, London by Matthews and Orr in 1896