Richard Redgrave RA, Compositional sketch for 'The Reduced Gentleman's Daughter', c. 1840.
Pen and ink with white highlights on wove paper. 57 mm x 63 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London.
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Compositional sketch for 'The Reduced Gentleman's Daughter', c. 1840
Richard Redgrave RA (1804 - 1888)
RA Collection: Art
A small compositional sketch in pen and ink for 'The Reduced Gentleman's Daughter'. Redgrave painted this scene illustrating a passage from The Rambler and exhibited it at the Royal Academy in 1840. He later produced a print which was engraved by Richard Hatfield and published on 10 April 1842.
The contrast of light and shade seems to have been a preoccupation in many of the compositional sketches in the album. Here the artist has further added white highlights to some areas of the sketch to indicate where it should be lighter.
A set of preparatory drawings for 'The Reduced Gentleman's Daughter' in an album of Redgrave's works (16/1281). These include small compositional sketches in pen and ink and a more detailed colour study.
The scene is one that Redgrave painted and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1840 though the original painting is now untraced. The composition was also engraved by Richard Hatfield (example in the V&A) and published in 1842.
The subject is derived from an episode in Samuel Johnson's The Rambler in which 'a poor lady seeks for a situation, and is cruelly received by her would-be employer'.
Object details
57 mm x 63 mm
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