Study for 'Perseus on Pegasus Hastening to the Rescue of Andromeda': Composition

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Drawing details

Title: Study for 'Perseus on Pegasus Hastening to the Rescue of Andromeda': Composition
Date: c.1895
Media: Black chalk on tracing paper
Dimensions: 27.3 diame x 27.3 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/760
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right "No. 4 1895" in pencil. The squares are numbered but the sheet has been cut into a roundel and only a few of them on the left side are visible.

Interpretation

This tracing may have been made from a chalk drawing of the composition at Leighton House Museum (reference number LHO/D/0691). This tracing was the last drawing Leighton made before beginning to work on the canvas. The round canvas would have been similarly squared up and the drawing transferred, square by square, onto the canvas before the first paint was applied.

Description

Study for the composition of the painting 'Perseus on Pegasus Hastening to the Rescue of Andromeda' (c.1895-96, Leicestershire Museums). The tracing is similar to the finished composition. The drawing is squared up. 

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