Leighton Study for Elijah {1897} NGV [DR]

Leighton, Frederick (1830-96; English)
Study for Elijah in the Wilderness (c.1877-78)
Black and white chalk on brown paper, 17.4 x 16.0 cm (image), 19.2 x 17.5 cm (sheet)
Purchased, 1897 (advice of Joseph Pennell)
National Gallery of Victoria (38-2)

In his introduction to the Annual Report for 1897, NGV Director Bernard Hall noted that this sketch, “obtained by Mr Joseph Pennell at the sale of Lord Leighton’s effects,” and Haydon Marcus Curtius 1843 {1897} NGV [PA], were the two major acquisitions for the Melbourne collection in that year.

This drawing is a preparatory study for the large canvas in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, commissioned for the opening of that gallery in 1877, and presented in 1879, when it was also shown in Paris and at the Royal Academy. For the Old Testament subject, see 1 Kings 19: 4-7.

See also Ward (L.) Frederick Leighton {1881} NGV [DR].

Refs.

AR 1897, pp.26 (quoted) and 28; NGV 1905, p.55 (II.Stawell Gallery, no.71; ill.) [£10/10]

For this drawing, see also Victorian Olympians (1975), cat.D5. For the painting of Elijah in the Wilderness (1877/8), see http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/highlights/item.aspx?tab=summary&item=wag+147&hl=1&coll=14