Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'The Escaped Prisoner'

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Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'The Escaped Prisoner'
Date: c.1862
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 16.4 x 10.8 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1035
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "No 28" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

This scene depicts the character Tito with friends on the steps of the Duomo in Florence. He is accosted by his father whom he had betrayed and sold into slavery.

Description

Traced study for the composition of the illustration 'The Escaped Prisoner', an illustration for Chapter XXII, Book II ('The Escaped Prisoners') for 'Romola' (first published in parts in the 'Cornhill Magazine' July 1862 to August 1863). This tracing, though reversed and lacking a number of decorative details, is similar in composition 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