"Two Studies of a Female Head (Right Profile)." Sir Edward John Poynter (1836-1919). c. 1860. Graphite and brown pencil on wove paper. 248 x 179 mm (9 15/16 x 7 1/16 inches). [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Commentary by Paul Crowther
Head Studies are all probably studies of Apostles done as commissions for the stained-glass makers James Powell and Co. He worked on many commissions for the company between 1857 and around 1863, often producing designs that never came to be made as windows. [The best discussion of Poynter’s work in this respect is Alan Brooks, "The Stained Glass Designs of Sir Edward Poynter".] The faces in the present studies have a somewhat mannered gravitas that is typical of Poynter’s treatment of the facial expressions of important figures.
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Bibliography
Brooks, Alan. "The Stained Glass Designs of Sir Edward Poynter." The Victorian Society Annual. London, 1996: 27–36.
Crowther, Paul. Awakening Beauty: The Crowther-Oblak Collection of Victorian Art. Exhibition catalogue. Ljubljana: National Gallery of Slovenia; Galway: Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, 2014. No. 88.
Created 7 January 2015