The Beloved - Study of a Black Boy
1865 – 1866
Accession number: 1904P473
Black chalk over pencil on cream wove paper.
Width: 374 mm
Height: 495 mm
Information
A study for the oil painting The Beloved (The Bride, 1865-66), now in the Tate collection. According to an entry in William Michael Rossetti's diary, the boy was employed as a servant and was spotted by Rossetti at the door of a hotel. Modern commentators have discussed this drawing in terms of diverse beauty, others have interpreted it as racist.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study of Marie Ford / by D.G.Rossetti / 1864 | ||||
| Notes | reverse | Handwritten | - | Pencil |
Exhibitions
| Catalogue No. | Venue | Date(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pictures, Drawings, Designs and Studies by the Late Dante Gabriel Rossetti | |||
| 131 | Burlington Fine Arts Club, London | 1883 - 1883 | |
| Pre-Raphaelite Drawings | |||
| - | Midlands Federation, Lichfield | 1961 - 1961 | |
| Dante Gabriel Rossetti | |||
| 37 | Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo | 1990-09-22 - 1990-11-14 | |
| 37 | Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya | 1990-11-17 - 1990-12-09 | |
| 37 | Ishibashi Museum of Art, Kurume | 1991-01-08 - 1991-02-14 | |
| Black Victorians: Black People in British Art 1800-1900 | |||
| 85 | Manchester Art Gallery | 2005-10-15 - 2006-01-06 | |
| 85 | Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | 2006-01-28 - 2006-04-02 | |
Literature
| Author(s) | Date(s) | Publisher | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dante Gabriel Rossetti: an Illustrated Memorial of his Art and Life | |||
| H C Marillier | 1899 | George Bell and Sons, London | under no. 177. |
| Rossetti Papers 1862-1870 | |||
| William Michael Rossetti | 1903 | Sands and Co., London | - |
| City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings | |||
| A E Whitley | 1939 | Bemrose & Sons, Ltd., Derby | p.331. |
| Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882, The Paintings and Drawings: A Catalogue Raisonne | |||
| Virginia Surtees | 1971 | Oxford University Press, London | vol. 1, no. 182E, p. 106; vol. 2, pl. 268. |
| Pre-Raphaelite Drawings: Dante Gabriel Rossetti | |||
| Andrea Rose | 1977 | The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London | no. 1F6. |
| Black Victorians: Black People in British Art 1800-1900 | |||
| Jan Marsh | 2005 | Lund Humphries, Aldershot | p. 160. |
Provenance
| George P Boyce; Charles Fairfax Murray. |
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