- Museum number
- 1864,0514.6
- Description
-
Study for the portrait of John Sheepshanks, collector; seated left with picture on his knee and magnifying glass in his hand, various portfolios resting against his chair, looking up to speak to standing woman to right, in front of ornate fireplace
Pen and brown ink with brown wash on blue paper
- Production date
- 1786-1863
- Dimensions
-
Height: 386 millimetres
-
Width: 340 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This drawing is a preparatory study for ‘Interior, Portrait of John Sheepshanks’ (Victoria and Albert Museum), which was worked on from 1832 through 1834. Sheepshanks (1787-1863), one of Mulready’s most important patrons, was a wealthy manufacturer and art collector from Leeds. Following his early retirement, he relocated to London and began forming his collection of modern British art, which included works by J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Edwin Landseer, William Mulready and David Wilkie. In 1857, Sheepshanks gave his collection of 233 oil paintings and 289 drawings and etchings to the nation, and they were placed in specially-built galleries at the South Kensington Museum (present-day Victoria and Albert Museum). His collection of seventeenth-century Dutch drawings and etchings was sold to the BM in 1836.
Sheepshanks is shown at the left of the composition, seated in his drawing room holding his portfolios as he is approached by his housekeeper. In this portrait, Mulready adopted a ‘narrative’ compositional structure normally reserved to genre paintings for which he was best known. In the drawing, Sheepshanks is shown looking sternly at his housekeeper as he holds a portfolio with one hand, and a magnifying glass with the other. The downward tilt of the newspapers and letters the housekeeper is holding contributes to the somewhat grave mood of the composition. In the final painting, however, Mulready alters the mood of the scene as Sheepshanks’ stern facial expression was replaced by a hint of a smile, suggesting he was more welcoming of the housekeepers’ interference as she enters holding a tray with a cup of tea and his mail.
The encounter is set in the elaborate interior of Sheepshanks’ residence at 172 New Bond Street, of which the drawing offers only a hint. He sketches out the richly carved mantelpiece, (supported by caryatids) and chimneypiece, and includes other details of the interior such as picture frames and books. Only in the final painting Mulready renders in greater detail all the architectural features of Sheepshanks drawing room, with its heavily sculpted cornice and other decorative details. As Heleniak noted, ‘in effect, the collector is nearly dwarfed by his prestigious possessions: his residence, his paintings, his portfolios, his books – even his comely maidservant. Yet, despite this bewildering profusion of material and human distractions, Sheepshanks, by his alert expression, his forceful gesture, his sombre clothing commands attention. In this sense, it is a successful portrait, embodying both the interests and the energy of the man himself.” ( p.174)
The figures appear to have cut out of its original sheet of paper to be placed onto the drawing of the interior.
The British Museum also holds another preparatory drawing for the portrait of John Sheepshanks (See 1864,0514.7).
Further reading:
Heleniak, K., William Mulready, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1980.
Pointon, M., Mulready, exh.cat., Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986.
Rorimer, A., Drawings by William Mulready, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1972.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1935, BM, P&D, 'Exhibition of the past hundred years 1835-1934' no no.
1969, BM, 'Royal Academy Draughtsmen 1769-1969', no.263
1974 July-Dec, BM, Portrait Drawings, no.361
1987 Feb 5 - May 25, BM, 'An A-Z of P&D'
- Acquisition date
- 1864
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1864,0514.6