Miranda by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904). 1868. Red and black chalk on paper. 14 ½ x 12 inches (37 x 30.5 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s. London. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
This is the preliminary study for the painting Miranda of c.1868, supposedly depicting the heroine of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. The model is again Mary Emma Jones and this drawing is amongst Sandys's earliest depictions of her. The finished painting corresponds closely to the drawing although Miranda's features are perhaps a little softer in the finished work.
"As the pageant of fair women passes before us what loveliness is there, and what power and what variety in its presentation! Here is the petulant beauty of Proud Maisie, and the mystic radiance of Selene; anon we see ... the glorious cascade of the tresses that adorn Miranda." — Percy Bate, added in 2010 by George P. Landow
Image scanned by Lanigan, replacing the original, from The Studio, by Landow. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the University of Toronto and the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite it in a print one.]
Bibliography
Bate, Percy. "The Late Frederick Sandys: A Retrospective." The Studio 33 (October 1904): 3-17. Internet Archive digitized from a copy in the University of Toronto Library.
The Century Guild Hobby Horse III (April 1888): frontispiece.
Elzea, Betty. Frederick Sandys 1829-1904. A Catalogue Raisonné. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., 2001, cat. 2.A.106, 191-92.
European and British Art. London: Sotheby's, December 14, 2022, lot 42.
Fine Victorian Pictures, Drawings and Watercolours. London: Christie's (8 November 1996): lot 33, 31.
Created 23 December 2010
Last modified 16 August 2025