ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

this drawing it is unclear if the figure is male or female, suggesting that Brown may have
had a slightly different design in mind when he first began his entry. Stephen Wildman
believes that this figure is female and both he and Whitley identify it as a study for
Erudition. This is incorrect as the pose matches that of the central bishop in the final
design. It seems likely that he used a female model, perhaps his first wife Elisabeth, or a
lay figure for this drapery study,
and another drawing for the bishop on the left which is
on the reverse of cat. no. 9. The costume in the two studies is identical except the addition
of extra ovals in between the crosses in this study. The circular decoration on the
bishop's robes was omitted in both the watercolour sketch (Manchester Art Gallery) and
the final cartoon. Although this drawing is dated 1843 the Royal Commissioners selected
the subjects for the six
arched compartments in 1844 and this design appears to have been
backdated by Brown.
Cat.
no. 142 The Spirit of Justice: Study for Head of Widow, 1844 - 45
Black chalk; 434 x 371 mm
Exh.: Midlands Federation Travelling Exhibition, 1961 (no cat.); Il Sacro e il Profana
nell'Arte dei Simbolistes, Turin, 1969 (40)
Lit.: Whitley, p. 27; Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite, p. 69
Prov.: Harold Hartley
Presented by Harold Hartley, 1905 (1905P19)
This is a study for the head of the Widow, one of the protagonists in the cartoon. Brown
has
studied the light and shade of each fold of her head scarf and the foreshortening
needed to portray her head as she looks up to the assembled figures, pleading for justice.
On the back of one of the apostles in The Ascension is a sketch of a young child, standing
upright and looking up (cat. no. 11). This appears to be the Widow’s child who
is
depicted clinging to her skirts in the final cartoon.
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STAGES OF CRUELTY
Related Works
Ashmolean
Stages
of Cruelty, watercolour and bodycolour with pen and black ink, WA1933.6
Manchester Art Gallery
Stages of Cruelty, 1856-90, oil on canvas, 1911.05
Tate, London
Stages of Cruelty, c. 1856, watercolour on paper, N04584.
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