Information
This drawing deals with the mythological tale of the riddle of the Sphinx. The answer to her question: 'What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?' is Man (in infancy, adulthood and old age, walking with a stick). Here Youth is shown dying, Man is staring at the Sphinx and Age is climbing the rock. The idea to have Youth dying may have been prompted by the premature death of Oliver, son of Ford Madox Brown, at the age of only nineteen in November 1874. W. B. Scott claims to have suggested the subject of the Sphinx to Rossetti (Reminiscences, vol. 2, p. 3). Rossetti may have intended to produce a painting on the subject, but none was ever begun. There is an earlier preliminary drawing in the Fogg Museum of Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Purchased and presented by subscribers, 1903.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
Association |
Artist |
Organisation |
Artist |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
- |
Inscriptions
Type |
Position(s) |
Method |
Date(s) |
Notes |
The Question / monogram 1875 |
- |
- |
Handwritten |
- |
Pencil |
|
Exhibitions
Catalogue No. |
Venue |
Date(s) |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter and Poet |
345 |
Royal Academy of Arts, London |
1973 - 1973 |
|
Exposed: The Victorian Nude |
- |
Tate Britain, London |
2001-11-01 - 2002-01-27 |
- |
Haus der Kunst, Munich |
2002-02-18 - 2002-05-26 |
- |
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York |
2002-09-06 - 2003-01-05 |
|
The Pre-Raphaelites |
248 |
Tate Gallery, London |
1984-03-07 - 1984-05-24 |
|
Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
144 |
Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo |
1990-09-22 - 1990-11-14 |
144 |
Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya |
1990-11-17 - 1990-12-09 |
144 |
Ishibashi Museum of Art, Kurume |
1991-01-08 - 1991-02-14 |
|
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England |
102 |
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington |
1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07 |
102 |
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16 |
102 |
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington |
1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15 |
102 |
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas |
1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02 |
102 |
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia |
1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10 |
102 |
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery |
1996-05-25 - 1996-09-29 |
|
Exposed: The Victorian Nude |
76 |
Tate Britain, London |
2002-11-01 - 2002-01-27 |
|
- |
- |
MART Rovereto, Italy |
2004-12-10 - 2005-05-08 |
|
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites |
150 |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
2005-10-01 - 2006-01-15 |
150 |
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich |
2006-03-09 - 2006-06-18 |
150 |
Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art |
2006-09-11 - 2006-11-26 |
|
Literature
Author(s) |
Date(s) |
Publisher |
Pages |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Record and a Study |
William Sharp |
1882 |
Macmillan, London |
pp. 241-43 |
|
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: an Illustrated Memorial of his Art and Life |
H C Marillier |
1899 |
George Bell and Sons, London |
no. 272 in list of works; p. 186. |
|
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter Poet of Heaven in Earth |
R L Megroz |
1928 |
Faber and Gwyer, London |
pp. 299-300 |
|
City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings |
A E Whitley |
1939 |
Bemrose & Sons Ltd., Derby |
p. 338 |
|
Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
John Robert Wahl, Oswald Doughty |
1967 |
Oxford University Press, Oxford |
vol. 3, p. 1330 |
|
'Rossetti and the Sphinx' |
Carl A Peterson |
1967-01 |
Apollo, London |
pp. 48-53. |
|
Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882, The Paintings and Drawings: A Catalogue Raisonne |
Virginia Surtees |
1971 |
Oxford University Press, London |
vol. 1, no. 241, pp. 139-40; vol. 2, pl. 350. |
|
Pre-Raphaelite Drawings: Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
Andrea Rose |
1977 |
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London |
no. 1A8. |
|
The Pre-Raphaelites |
Leslie Parris |
1984 |
Tate Gallery and Penguin Books, London |
pp. 307-308. |
|
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England. |
Stephen Wildman |
1995 |
Arts Services International, Alexandria, Virginia |
pp. 293-94 |
|
Exposed: The Victorian Nude |
Alison Smith |
2001 |
Tate Publishing, London |
p. 153. |
|
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites |
Colin Cruise |
2005 |
Merrell, London |
p. 180 |
Provenance
Rossetti Sale, 1883 (lot 197) £33.12s; Charles Fairfax Murray |
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