Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': Proem

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Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': Proem
Date: c.1862
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 6.5 x 8.0 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/1008
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "No. 45" in pen and ink.

Interpretation

This scene shows a man walking in a garden below San Miniato in Florence.

Description

Traced study for the composition of a vignette illustration to the 'Proem' or preface of George Eliot's novel, '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 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