Study for 'Wide Wondering Eyes': Girl

Drawing details

Title: Study for 'Wide Wondering Eyes': Girl
Date: c.1894
Media: Black and white chalk on grey-brown paper
Dimensions: 30.9 x 21.6 cm
Location: Royal Library, Windsor
Picture credit: The Royal Collection (c) 2005, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Reference number: 13509
Inscriptions: Stamped lower right "GR" embossed.

Interpretation

The model for this drawing was Grace Cecilia Phillips (c.1892-1978), the daughter of a friend of Leighton's. A similar, earlier sketch, for the same painting, signed and dated April 1894, was presented to the child's aunt, Ethel Cecilia Reeves, presumably by the artist. It passed to her daughter, Joyce Simms, by descent and was sold through Christie's, London on 19 December 1991 (lot 4).

Description

Study for the head of the girl in the painting 'Wide Wondering Eyes' (c.1895, private collection). 

 

Bibliography

• Miller, Delia, 'The Victorian Watercolours and Drawings in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen', Philip Wilson Publishers, London, 1995, p.543 (catalogue number 3338)
• Ormond, Leonee and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, p.173 (listed under catalogue number 394).