Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'A Florentine Joke'

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Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'A Florentine Joke'
Date: c.1862
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 10.7 x 16.0 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1011
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "No. 63" in pen and ink.

Description

Traced study for the composition of 'A Florentine Joke', an illustration to Chapter XVI, Book I for 'Romola' (first published in parts in the 'Cornhill Magazine' July 1862 to August 1863). Apart from being reversed, this tracing is very close to the composition of the finished illustration though it does not include a number of architectural and background details. 

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