James Tissot

Catalogue entry

N04292 Studies of a Kneeling Woman c.1872-3

Not inscribed
Pencil on paper, 12 7/8 x 19 1/4 (33 x 48.8)
Bequeathed by J.R. Holliday 1927
Prov: [?Charles Fairfax Murray, London]; J.R. Holliday, Birmingham

A drawing from life made probably as a study for a painting, though none with this figure is known. The woman's head is repeated on the left, viewed from a slightly different angle.

Mrs Madeleine B. Ginsburg has pointed out that the dress is similar to one worn by a girl in an undated picture known as 'Still on Top' (Auckland City Art Gallery), except that the latter has no belt and has differences in the detailing of the sleeves. 'It is hard to tell how full the skirt is from the drawing but since it looks reasonably ample I would place it c.1872-3 rather than later in the first half of the decade' (letter of 21 June 1976).

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.719, reproduced p.719

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