drawing
- Museum number
- 1995,0121.4
- Description
-
Studies for furniture designs; three 'natural ornament' designs for a chair incorporating ostriches and indian corn, a rocking chair with panthers and monkeys, and a turtle footstool. 1853
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- 1853
- Dimensions
-
Height: 190 millimetres
-
Width: 255 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- These sketches and 1995-1-21-5 were made by Millais in the late summer of 1853 while he was staying with John Ruskin at Brig o'Turk in the Scottish Highlands. Millais was painting Ruskin's portrait and Ruskin was working on his theory for decorating buildings with 'natural ornament' for a series of lectures he was to give in Edinburgh later that year. These drawings are part of a larger group along the same theme, Millais finding in them a relaxation from everyday painting. A third drawing, of a chair with deer and vultures, was sold with these two drawings at Sotheby's 2.xi.94/171 but was not purchased by the British Museum and is in a private collection.
Another drawing from this group was sold in the next lot at Sotheby's and purchased by Jeremy Maas Galleries. It showed two angels on a gothic arch, but when removed from the old mount, the verso showed a ring in the form of a snake and the two angels again, but the faces were portraits of Millais and Ruskin's wife, Effie.(see Maas Gallery cat. 1995 for provenance of this group of drawings).
Exhibited at the Fine Art Society in Edinburgh and London 1983.
See Mary Lutyens & Malcolm Warner, eds., "Rainy Days at Brig o'Turk", 1983, no. 27, 28; and C Cruise, ‘Pre-Raphaelite Drawing’, 2011, pp. 114-5
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1983, ?, Fine Art Soc., Edin. and London
1995-6 Nov-Apr, BM, Recent Acquisitions (no cat.)
- Acquisition date
- 1995
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1995,0121.4
