Richard Redgrave RA, Compositional sketch for 'The Sempstress', c. 1844.
Pen and ink on wove paper. 45 mm x 60 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London.
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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. The artist has experimented with the position of the light source; in this sketch the candle is in the centre of the composition.
Object details
45 mm x 60 mm
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