Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'A Dangerous Colleague'

Drawing details

Title: Study for an Illustration for 'Romola': 'A Dangerous Colleague'
Date: c.1862
Media: Pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions: 16.2 x 10.7 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/947
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "No. 51" in pencil.

Interpretation

The scene depicts a chance meeting between the characters Tito and Dolfo Spini. The two plot to ambush Savonarola and take him to Rome. Romola, wearing a cloak with a hood, listens by a wall. Apart from being reversed this drawing is very similar in composition to the finished illustration.

Description

Traced study for the illustration 'A Dangerous Colleague', Chapter XIV, Book III, ('By a Street Lamp') for 'Romola' (1862-63). Apart from being reversed this drawing is very 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