Wycliffe Reading his Translation of the Bible - Nude Study of John of Gaunt and Chaucer's Right Hand1847 Accession number: 1906P726 Pencil and black chalk on paper. Width: 177 mm Height: 253 mm InformationThis sheet contains studies for the figure of John of Gaunt and the left hand of Geoffrey Chaucer in Brown's painting 'Wycliffe Reading his Translation of the Bible to John of Gaunt, in the Presence of Chaucer and Gower' (1848, oil on canvas, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford). This is one of a pair of drawings in the Birmingham collection which show the figure of Gaunt first nude and then clothed (1906P725). These studies reveal much about Brown's working process in the late 1840s. He began, as he had learnt in the art academies he attended in Belgium, by making studies of nude models in order to get the correct anatomical details of the pose. He then drew the figure clothed, often using a lay figure to keep the fabric absolutely still. This process, practised since the Renaissance, was believed to make the figure more exact. The study of the hand is for the figure of Chaucer who stands on the left with Gower.LM
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