This group of life drawings are very similar in style and arrangement. One is inscribed 'Rome 1853' and it is very likely that the others were also made at life classes either in Rome or in Frankfurt where Leighton studied at the Städelsches Institut. Having completed his training with the Nazarene painter Edvard von Steinle in Frankfurt, Leighton arrived in Rome on the 19th November 1852 remaining there, apart from visits to his family in Germany, until 1855 when he moved to Paris.

Many of these life studies are drawn in pencil with a sharp outline and light modelling effected by the close-knit hatching of fine lines. The academic quality of the drawings derives from Leighton's rigorous training. In later years, Leighton retained a methodical approach to the preparation of his compositions but his life drawings became considerably less restrained and he favoured the more fluid medium of black and white chalks on brown paper.

All objects in this group