Study for an Illustration for 'Dalziel's Bible Gallery': 'The Spies Escape'

Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Dalziel's Bible Gallery': 'The Spies Escape'
Date: 1863-64
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 16.3 x 17.6 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1068
Inscriptions: Inscribed "No 129" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

The scene depicts the Israelite spies escaping from a brothel in Jericho. The prostitute Rahab gave the spies information regarding the city before hiding them and then helping them to escape on the understanding that she and her family would be protected when Joshua attacked the city (Joshua 2). In the early 1860s both Joseph Cundall and the Dalziel brothers were planning to publish sets of illustrations to the Bible. Leighton began designs for Joseph Cundall c.1862-63 but this project was never realised. Nine of his biblical illustrations were, however, produced for the Dalziels from 1863-64, though they were not published until 1881. Letters between Leighton and the Dalziels dated 1862 concern which passages the artist intended to illustrate.

Description

Traced study for the composition of the illustration 'The Spies Escape', for 'Dalziel's Bible Gallery' (1862-64, published 1881). 

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