'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it'

'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it'

Painting details

Title: 'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it'
Date: 1891-92
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 90 x 90 (diameter) cm
Location: Tate Britain
Picture credit: Courtesy of Leighton House Museum, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (illustrated from Baldry, Alfred Lys, 'Masterpieces in Colour: Leighton', T.C. & E. C. Jack, London, c.1905, illustrated opposite p.v)

Interpretation

A guide to Leighton House Museum, published in 1915, attempted to describe the extent and variety of the Museum's collection of drawings for this painting. At the time, these drawings were mounted and framed and were displayed in the short corridor between the main studio and the winter studio (or glass studio) in the house. "In the passage of Leighton House are almost numberless studies for this painting, which afford object lessons of the wonderful amount of labour and time Leighton spent on its evolution. Some are in chalk on brown paper, others in pen and ink, in chalk on grey paper, four sheets of nude studies of male figures in chalk on brown paper, six sheets of studies of figures in chalk on brown paper and so on. To the student these initial stages, and the light they throw upon the artist's methods, are invaluable, and it is simply surprising more are not seen at Leighton House studying them." [Stone, J. Harris, 'Leighton House: The Residence of the Late Lord Leighton P. R. A. and its Contents', The Central Publishing Co., London, 1905, p.16]

Drawings related to 'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it'

Description

'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it'
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Finished painting is a design for a roundel group of three figures with one male, one female and a young boy in the centre of composition. In the lower left foreground is a male figure facing the viewer, with face turned up and to the left and arms crossed at the wrist over his chest. His hands are clenched into fists and he is wrapped in drapery. Upper left hand side two figures in three-quarter view. To the right hand side are four figures in the background

Provenance

'And the sea gave up the dead which were in it'
enlarge painting

Commissioned by Henry Tate for the Tate Gallery from Henry Tate in 1891

Bibliography

  • Baldry, Alfred Lys, 'Masterpieces in Colour: Leighton', T.C. and E. C. Jack, London, c.1905, illustrated opposite p.v
  • Ormond, Leonee and Richard, 'Lord Leighton', Yale University Press, London, 1975, p.107, 123-4, 170 plate 154 (catalogue number 354)

Exhibition history

  • 1892, Royal Academy of Arts, catalogue number 115
  • 1892, Liverpool Autumn Exhibition, catalogue number 1099
  • 04 January 1897 to 13 March 1897, 'Exhibition of Works be the Late Lord Leighton of Stretton President of the Royal Academy: Winter Exhibition', The Royal Academy of Arts, London, catalogue number 108

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