Study for 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...': Head and Hands of Female Child

Drawing details

Title: Study for 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...': Head and Hands of Female Child
Date: c.1854
Media: Pencil on white paper
Dimensions: 26.2 x 38.0 cm
Location: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Picture credit: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Reference number: 04/664
Inscriptions: Inscribed lower left "30" encircled, in pencil. Inscribed lower right "Early studies" in pencil. Labelled on mount "(1) Study of a child's head. Black and white chalk on paper on brown / paper. / (2) Two studies of heads, and seven studies of hands.

Interpretation

Leighton made many studies of heads, figures, draperies and hands in preparation for the painting 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...'. He was particularly conscientious in his preparatory work for this painting, which was one of his first large-scale canvasses, specifically created to exhibit at either the Royal Academy in London or the Paris Salon.

Description

Two studies of a female child's head and seven studies of hands. These are all preparatory drawings for two young girls on the left hand side of 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...' (c.1853-55, Royal Collection). The detailed study on the top left of the sheet, in black chalk highlighted with white paint, is identical in pose to the girl on the left hand side of the painting who wears a green and black dress and scatters flowers in the path of the procession. The sketch next to this one depicts the same model but the pose is different and refer to another figure - the girl wearing a gold and red dress on the far left of the painting. Six of the hand studies rehearse the position of the right hand of the girl in the green dress who grasps both the hem of her tunic and the rim of the small flower basket. On the lower right of the sheet is a study for her left hand which is open to show the palm as she scatters the flowers. 

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