Information

This is a study for Brown's oil sketch of 'The Ascension' which he unsuccesfully sumitted for a competition to design an altarpiece for the church of St James, Bermondsey, in 1844. The figure is one of the apostles looking up in amazement as Christ rises to heaven. This figure was not used in the final version. On the back of this drawing is a drapery study for one of the figures in Brown's cartoon 'The Spirit of Justice.' This was his third entry to the Westminster competition for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament. The drapery study is for the bishop on the right. In the final cartoon the ecclesiastical robes have been considerabley altered.LM

  • Purchased and presented by subscribers, 1906.
  • © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association Artist Organisation
Artist Ford Madox Brown -

Inscriptions

Type Position(s) Method Date(s) Notes
Ford M Brown/44 (Paris)
Signature and date bottom left Handwritten 1844 Brown ink.
 

Literature

Author(s) Date(s) Publisher Pages
City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings
A E Whitley 1939 Bemrose & Sons Ltd, Derby p. 29
 
Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite
Laura MacCulloch, Tessa Sidey 2008 D. Giles Limited p. 64

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