Information

In 1847 Ford Madox Brown attended life-classes run by his friend and fellow artist Charles Lucy (1814-73) and held in Lucy's studio at Tudor Lodge in Mornington Crescent, Camden Town, London. This house contained several artists' studios including one used for a short time by Brown. He also went to the Dickinson Brothers Drawing Academy at 18 1/2 Maddox Street, London where Lucy was employed as a drawing master. The exact date that the Academy opened is not known but it was advertised in the 'Illustrated London News' on 15 January 1848 'for the study of Painting and Sculpture, and Preparatory for the Royal Academy.' As Virginia Surtees notes the Academy was open to professional artists four evenings a week from 7pm to 10pm for life study and held ladies classes in the daytime ('The Diary of Ford Madox Brown,' p. 15). This drawing is one of four in the collection likely to have been drawn during a class at Tudor Lodge or the Dickinsons' academy. Together they show the range of poses set by the instructor to show off the muscular bodies of the models and liken the men to classical idols. Working class men were sought for these models as their strenuous jobs provided them with toned bodies resembling classical sculptures. LM

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

Makers

Association Artist Organisation
Artist Ford Madox Brown -

Exhibitions

Catalogue No. Venue Date(s)
Exposed: The Victorian Nude
25 Tate Britain 2001-11-01 - 2002-01-27
25 Haus der Kunst, Munich 2002-02-18 - 2002-05-26
25 Brooklyn Museum of Art 2002-09-06 - 2003-01-05
 
Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite
11 Birmingham and Museum Art Gallery 2008-08-27 - 2008-12-14
 

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. 48
 
Exposed: The Victorian Nude
Alison Smith 2001 Tate Publishing p. 84
 
Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite
Laura MacCulloch, Tessa Sidey 2008 D. Giles Limited, London pp. 51, 67; repr. p. 47

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