Sketch of a carved stone fireplace at Wells, 14th June 1833, by Solomon Alexander Hart (1806-1881). Pencil on cream wove paper, 168 mm x 219 mm. In the collection of the Royal Academy of Arts, object number 03/7345, bequeathed by Richard Phené Spiers in 1916, and reproduced here by kind permission of the Academy. There are many such drawings in the RA's collection of work by Hart, but this one is of special interest because it matches the one in Hart's diploma painting, An Early Reading of Shakespeare (1838). This might suggest that it was a preliminary study for the larger work, although at this stage of his career it is more likely that he had an eye to using it for an engraving. [Click on the image to enlarge it.] — Jacqueline Banerjee
Related Material
Bibliography
"Carved Stone Fireplace at Wells." Royal Academy. Web. 13 September 2018.
Valentine, Helen. "Hart, Solomon Alexander (1806–1881), historical genre painter." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 13 September 2018.
Created 13 September 2018