Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'At the Well'

Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'At the Well'
Date: c.1862
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 11.0 x 15.9 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1036
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "No 34a" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

This scene depicts the character Romola standing by a well and holding a child which she found next to its parents who had died of the plague.

Description

Tracing for the illustration 'At the Well', Chapter XXXVI, Book III ('Romola's Waking') for 'Romola' (first published in parts in the 'Cornhill Magazine' July 1862 to August 1863). This tracing, though reversed, is similar to the finished illustration. 

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