Study for 'Venus and Cupid': Venus

Drawing details

Title: Study for 'Venus and Cupid': Venus
Date: c.1855
Media: Black chalk on paper
Dimensions: 35.7 x 19.4 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/684
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower left "37" (encircled) in pencil. Labelled on mount "(1) Study of a nude female figure for "The Frigidarium" / Black chalk on brown paper. / (2) Study of a nude female figure for "The Frigidarium" / Black chalk and Chinese white on bro

Interpretation

This study is likely to be an earlier than another study for the same figure, also in the collection at the Royal Academy (reference number 04/687) in which the model's right arm touches her head and her weight is on the other foot, making her hips curve to the right, as in the painting.

Description

Full-length nude study for the female figure in the painting 'Venus and Cupid' (c.1856, private collection). The model leans over with her right arm resting on a flat surface and her left hand touching her shoulder. There is a very faint study of another figure in a similar position on the left of the sheet. 

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