Study for 'The Daphnephoria': Female Figure

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Drawing details

Title: Study for 'The Daphnephoria': Female Figure
Date: c.1875
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 12.4 x 22.8 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1074
Inscriptions: Inscribed upper right "No 85" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

These are probably early ideas for 'The Daphnephoria' (1874-76, Lady Lever Gallery, Port Sunlight, Merseyside), showing a procession held in Thebes every ninth year in honour of Apollo. This figure may relate to one of the women in the second or third row of the chorus but, although the figure in this tracing is female, the pose and drapery are also very similar to the figure of the young male priest or Daphnephorus (meaning 'laurel bearer') who leads the procession in the finished painting. This tracing is very similar to another in the Royal Academy collection (04/1102).

Description

Four tracings of a standing female figure in classical drapery holding a laurel branch. 

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 

Bibliography

• Ormond, LeonTe and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, p.163 (listed under catalogue number 237)