Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'Will His Eyes Open?'

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Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'Will His Eyes Open?'
Date: c.1862
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 10.3 x 16.2 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1012
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "no 56" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

This scene depicts the character Tito's death at the hands of his adopted father, Baldassare.

Description

A pencil tracing for 'Will his Eyes Open?', Leighton's illustration to Chapter XXV, Book III ('Waiting by the River'), for 'Romola' (first published in parts in the 'Cornhill Magazine' July 1862 to August 1863). Apart from being reversed this tracing is very similar to the finished illustration, though somewhat less detailed. 

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