Two studies of the upper body of a male figure

George Frederic Watts RA (1817 - 1904)

RA Collection: Art

Two studies in black and white chalk of the head and upper body of a bearded male figure. An old list of the Watts drawings in the RA Collection identifies these as preparatory drawings for 'The Restoration of Civilization after the Deluge'. Both are also similar to studies identified as preparatory drawings for 'The Sacrifice of Noah' (private collection, exhibited at The Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1974). Watts was preparing this subject, along with 'Noah Building the Ark' and 'Esau Meeting Jacob', as a design for illustrations to the Dalziel Brothers' proposed Illustrated Bible, eventually published as Dalziel's Bible Gallery. The figure depicted on this sheet is also close to one in Watts's mid-1860s drawings for a mosaic design for St. Paul's Cathedral.