Studies of a female figure

Sir Frank Dicksee PRA (1853 - 1928)

RA Collection: Art

On this sheet is a study of a reclining woman leaning back on her right elbow, wearing classical drapery with a laurel wreath on her head. She blows a trumpet held in her left hand. This appears to relate to a pencil drawing of a similar, though not identical figure, in the British Museum ( https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1933-1014-47 ) which shows a winged personification of Victory reclining in almost the same pose but holding up a laurel wreath rather than a trumpet. Both bear some resemblance to the figure in Dicksee's 1891 painting The Mountain of the Winds (untraced, see Royal Academy Illustrated 1891) .

On the top right of the sheet is a faint pencil drawing of a woman's face in profile. This is probably a detail of the larger drawing but showing the head from a slightly different angle. Below, are two small sketches in black chalk depicting a kneeling woman with both arms raised. These appear to relate to a different composition and are possibly connected with Mercy (RA 09/2105) a sketch produced by Dicksee at the Langham Club. The pose is also similar to one the artist employed in The Mother (1907), showing a kneeling girl embracing her mother, and The Shadowed Face (1909) which shows a nun kneeling at the foot of a large crucifix.