Saturday, February 1, 2020

Human and/or Divine Figures in Paint (1830-1840)

John Robert Wildman
Portrait of Sarah Ann Williams and John Strange Williams
ca. 1830
oil on canvas
Guildhall Art Gallery, London

James Ward
Diana at the Bath
1830
oil on panel
Yale Center for British Art

William Etty
Guardsman Higgins
ca. 1830
oil on panel
National Army Museum, London 

"Men of the London-based Guards regiments commonly posed for artists as a means of supplementing their low wages.  Strict height regulations were imposed on the Guards, with a minimum height of 5 feet 9 inches (179 cm) in a period where the average height for a man was about 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm).  This made them excellent models for life drawing.  Some went so far as to prostitute themselves for extra money, and could be found by male clients in particular London taverns."

– from curator's notes at the National Army Museum, London

Eugène Delacroix
Head of a Woman in a Red Turban
1831
oil on canvas
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Petrus van Schendel
Poultry Store
1834
oil on canvas
St Helier Town Hall, Jersey

Thomas Stothard
Amphitrite
ca. 1834
oil on canvas
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Paul Delaroche
Study for the Head of Christ
ca. 1834
oil on canvas
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Anonymous French Artist
Gasparine Ida de Finguerlin (Mrs. Thomas Strickland)
ca. 1835
oil on canvas
National Trust, Sizergh Castle, Cumbria

Ary Scheffer
Francesca da Rimini
1835
oil on canvas
Wallace Collection, London

"Scheffer enjoyed enormous success with sentimental and religious scenes, many of which became the subject of popular engravings.  Francesca da Rimini was one of his most admired works – this is the first version, but he produced many others.  A subject from Dante's Inferno, it shows Dante and his guide Virgil during their passage through Hell.  They look on the tragic figures of Paolo and Francesca, condemned with the souls of the lustful to the stormy darkness of Hell's second circle."

– from curator's notes at the Wallace Collection

William Dyce
The Lamentation
1835
oil on canvas
Aberdeen Art Gallery

William Daniels
The Brigand
1837
oil on panel
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

Ernest Meissonier
The Prophet Isaiah
ca. 1838
oil on panel
Wallace Collection, London

Charles Lock Eastlake
Christ Blessing the Little Children
1839
oil on canvas
Manchester Art Gallery

Frank Stone
Portrait of William Makepeace Thackeray
ca. 1839
oil on canvas
National Portrait Gallery, London

Henry Calvert
Thomas Cholmondeley, 1st Lord Delamere on his Hunter
ca. 1839
oil on panel
Yale Center for British Art