Study of a Woman's Head, by Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904)

Dennis T. Lanigan

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Study of a Woman's Head

Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (1829-1904)

c.1899

Pencil on green paper with white chalk

20 x 16 ¼ inches (50.8 x 41.3 cm)

Collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 55.1472. Image courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

This drawing was shown after Sandys's death at the Winter Exhibition held at the Royal Academy in 1905, no. 287, that featured works both by him and G.F. Watts, who had also died in 1904. [Commentary continues below. Mouse over the text above for links.]

Betty Elzea has described the work in these terms: "Bust of a young woman leaning over, supported by her right hand (the arm is not drawn). She faces half to left. Her abundant wavy dark hair is coiled into a bun at the back of her head, and a long tress hangs down over her right shoulder. The neckline of her dress is barely suggested" (287).

A replica of the drawing, but less complete and finished, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (inventory no. E.2292-1921). This work is dated 1899 and is catalogued as Study of the head of Miss Mildred Sandys." Mildred Sandys was born in 1873 and was one of Sandys's eldest two daughters. She later worked as an interior decorator and died unmarried in 1937 (Elzea 285).

Bibliography

Bate, Percy "The Late Frederick Sandys: A Retrospective." The Studio XXXIII (October 1904): 3-17. [The original image on this webpage, added in 2010 by George P. Landow, was an engraving of this portrait on p. 9.]

Elzea, Betty. Frederick Sandys 1829-1904. A Catalogue Raisonné. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., 2001, cat. 5.36, 287.

Created 23 December 2010

Last modified 18 August 2025