Sterne's 'Sentimental Journey' - Study for Yorick and La Fleur1842 Accession number: 1906P797 Brown pen and ink with pencil on paper. Width: 435 mm Height: 570 mm InformationThis is one of two works in the collection based on the eighteenth century novel 'A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy By Mr Yorick,' by Laurence Sterne (1713-1768). Between them the two drawings illustrate the chapters concerning the popular character Maria Moulines. The first drawing depicts Maria's mother talking to the protagonist, Yorick, and his manservant La Fleur. She has moved La Fleur to tears by telling the two men of the sad plight of her daughter, Maria, who has taken to wandering aimlessly after the death of her father. The second more finished watercolour depicts the following scene in which Yorick has found Maria and together they towards the town of Moulines. On the reverse of this drawing is an important sheet of early sketches for the central figures in the cartoon 'The Body of Harold Brought before William the Conqueror,' now in Manchester Art Gallery. This was one of Brown's first two entries to the 1844 competition to design frescoes to decorate the House of Parliament (the other Adam and Eve is now lost). The figures show a variety of poses and suggests that Brown was trying out different compositions for the painting. The sketch at the top left of the page, including both William and Harold, became the main group of figures in the final composition. Brown also retained the two figures on horseback, on the left, in the final design. Few of the other figure groupings were used in the cartoon however it appears Brown thought seriously about including some of them as the Whitworth Art Gallery has a bigger pen and ink sketch depicting the figure supported by soldiers and a monk. LM In 1844, Brown submitted a large-scale cartoon, for which these are studies, in the competition for fresco decoration of the new Houses of Parliament. He later worked up an oil sketch into a finished painting.
Makers
Inscriptions
Exhibitions
Literature
Associated people
Related work & resourcesDiscuss this workStart a discussion about this work.You need to login to discuss this work. Click here to login. If you are not yet registered click here to become a member. |