Portrait Study of Samuel Palmer by George Richmond, RA 1809-1896

Portrait Study of Samuel Palmer

George Richmond, RA 1809-1896

1825-30

Painted red chalk on white paper

8 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches, 21 x 16 cm.

See commentary below

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Commentary by Hilary Morgan

The figurative and landscape subjects which Richmond painted in the 1820s were dependent on Palmer's style of painting. His closeness to Palmer at that time is, also indicated by the number of portraits of Palmer he produced. Richard Ormond lists eight portrait drawings and one miniature. These include both straightforward likenesses and characterisations.

The present portrait, which is not included in Ormond's iconography, shows Palmer with the long hair, moustache and beard which he grew during the later 1820s when living at Shoreham. although Palmer's features are recognisable by comparison with the other portraits of him by Richmond (for instance Richmond's miniature in the National Portrait Gallery dated 1829), the present drawing may also self-consciously echo the traditional representation of the features of Christ, as in, for example, Albrecht Dürer's 'Self-portrait as Christ' (Munich, alte Pinakothek).

The present drawing is perhaps related to Richmond's portrayal of Christ in his tempera 'Christ and the Woman of Samaria' and the preliminary drawing for that subject made in 1828 (London, Tate Gallery).

References

Grigson, Geoffrey. Samuel Palmer the Visionary Years. London, 1947

Morgan, Hilary, and Peter Nahum. Burne-Jones, the Pre-Raphaelites, and Their Century. London: Peter Nahum, 1989. Catalogue number 2.

Ormond, Richard. Early Victorian Portraits. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973.

Samuel Palmer and 'The Ancients' (catalogue of the exhibition by Raymond Lister). Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum, 1984. Number 97.

Last modified 20 December 2001