drawing
- Museum number
- 1881,1112.368
- Description
-
Portrait studies of an Italian woman called Giuditta; to right head in profile to left, to left head and shoulders turned to left, head in three-quarter looking down, study of another head looking to front. 1842
Watercolour with graphite
- Production date
- 1842
- Dimensions
-
Height: 171 millimetres
-
Width: 231 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Solomon Hart was elected as the first Jewish Royal Academician in 1840, and has been examined predominantly from this angle. However, as Richard Cohen argues, he was an artist who vacillated between an interest in religious themes that illuminated his position in society and the desire to speak to the everyman, irrespective of their creed (Cohen, p. 159). Hart himself felt that he ‘could do something of a more definite character in the expression of human emotion’ (Hart, p. 13). This interest can be felt in these carefully observed portrait studies, as well as numbers 1910,0218.32-33 and 1881,1112.368-70. These all stem from a sojourn in Rome. In his ‘Reminiscences’ Solomon Hart recalled, ‘The Duke [of Sussex], who had lived for some time in Italy, by his charming accounts to me of the country, did much persuade me to visit it.’ (Hart, p. 129) This journey took place between September 1841 and the autumn of 1842, making it likely that Rome was the last point on his European expedition.
Further reading:
R. Cohen, ‘Jewish Icons: Art and Society in Modern Europe’, Berkeley, 1998.
S.A. Hart, ‘The Reminiscences of Solomon Alexander Hart R.A., ed. A. Brodie, London, 1882.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1969, BM, 'Royal Academy Draughtsmen 1769-1969', no.229
- Acquisition date
- 1881
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1881,1112.368
