ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

in the Birmingham photograph, producing a blurred effect which may not have contained
enough detail for Brown to work from. The Birmingham photograph has pin holes in the
corners suggesting that Brown tacked it up to use as a guide to Carlye’s pose, which is
the same as in the finished picture, but may have relied on the clearer half-length study
for his likeness.
Cat. no. 122 Portrait: Head Study of Daniel Casey (three-quarter view), 1848
Black chalk; 253 x 177 mm
Insc. br.: Ford M Brown London/48
Lit.: Whitley, p. 46; Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite, p. 68
Prov.: Charles Fairfax Murray
Presented by Subscribers, 1906 (1906P720)
Cat. no. 123 Portrait: Head Study of Daniel Casey (full-face), 1848
Black chalk; 250 x 175 mm
Insc. br.: Ford M Brown London/48
Lit.: Whitley, p. 46; Andrea Rose, Pre-Raphaelite Portraits,
1981, p. 19, ill. p. 19; Diary,
p.
44, Newman and Watkinson, p. 41
Exh.: Pre-Raphaelite Art from Birmingham, Hong Kong
Museum of Art, 1984 (5); Ford
Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite (21)
Prov.: Charles Fairfax Murray
Presented by Subscribers, 1906 (1906P721)
the artist Daniel Casey
ordeaux to Irish parents he specialised in historical and
met Brown in 1837 when they
tudied under Baron Wappers at the Antwerp Academy and shared lodgings at the Hotel
oney to bring the body home.
e pawned valuables and left art materials with the family. 171 The man in these two potraits has traditionally been identified as
(active 1842-1880). Born in B
biblical scenes, particularly those depicting horses. He
s
du Pot d'Etain. Following their studentship they both relocated to Paris where Casey
remained after Brown moved to England in 1844. From 1842 until 1880 he exhibited
paintings such as St Louis in the Desert at the Salon but despite commissions from the
French Government monetary success evaded him. After his first wife’s death in Paris in
1846 Brown was helped by the Caseys to raise enough m
H
Two years later Brown
returned to Paris to visit Daniel Casey and stayed almost three weeks with his friend. He
wrote happily of the holiday in his diary recording 'Went to Paris to see my old friend
Casey & buy a lay figure. Did both, enjoyed myself much, painted a portrait of Casey,
worked about 7 hours at it.' 172 These studies of Casey may have been made by Brown
during the visit, and finished in London, for the portrait (now lost).
In the first study Casey is shown turned
slightly to the left and with a beard. In the
second
he is in a much more startling full face pose and Casey's eyes bore into the
viewer. This striking drawing is reminiscent of Dürer’s Self Portrait at Twenty-Eight
(1500, oil on panel, Alte Pinakothek, Munich), and was made when Casey would have
been the same age, suggesting that Brown wanted to highlight his friend’s artistic genius.
171
Op. cit. at note 2, pp. 153-154.
172
Ibid., p. 44.
271