Compositional sketch for 'The Sempstress', c. 1844

Richard Redgrave RA (1804 - 1888)

RA Collection: Art

A small compositional sketch in pen and ink for 'The Sempstress'. Redgrave exhibited the original painting at the Royal Academy in 1844. At the exhibition, the painting was accompanied with an excerpt of Thomas Hood's 1843 poem 'The Song of the Shirt': 'Oh! men with sisters dear,/Oh! men with mothers and wives,/ It is not linen you're wearing out,/ But human creatures' lives.' The original painting is untraced but Redgrave later produced a replica in 1846 which is now in Tate Britain.

The contrast of light and shade seems to have been a preoccupation in many of the compositional sketches in the album. Most of this sketch is filled with pen and ink hatch marks, but the seamstress's arm, side, and face are left white against the light of the candle.