Study for the Painting "Sybil"

Lord Frederick Leighton

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Object Label

Frederic Leighton’s academic training taught him to prepare numerous figure and drapery studies for his paintings. This drawing of a classically robed woman is a study for a large oil painting, Sybil, which he exhibited in 1889. Her pose is reminiscent of Albrecht Dürer’s figure in Melencolia, while her sculptural presence reflects Leighton’s debt to the monumental female figures of Michelangelo. By the 1880s, Leighton’s highly finished style was falling out of fashion in favor of the looser, more spontaneous approach of Impressionism. In this climate, viewers appreciated his energetic charcoal drawings, such as this one, which contemporary magazines regularly reproduced.

Caption

Lord Frederick Leighton British, 1830–1896. Study for the Painting "Sybil". Charcoal and chalk on wove paper, Sheet: 14 9/16 x 10 7/8 in. (37 x 27.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Russell Barrington, 20.831. No known copyright restrictions

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

European Art

Title

Study for the Painting "Sybil"

Medium

Charcoal and chalk on wove paper

Classification

Drawing

Dimensions

Sheet: 14 9/16 x 10 7/8 in. (37 x 27.6 cm)

Signatures

Unsigned

Markings

Artist's stamp embossed in lower left corner

Credit Line

Gift of Russell Barrington

Accession Number

20.831

Rights

No known copyright restrictions

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