Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Figure 2. Paul Delaroche, Study for The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, ca. 1833. Watercolor
and body color over pencil, with varnish, 18.4 X 14.3 em. University of Manchester, f;IIhitworth Art
Gallery.
steps may be observed in The Execution if Lady Jane Grey and other works
by Paul Delaroche. It must be remembered that the artist may have been
assisted by students at certain stages in the production of a painting of this
size, even though there is no obvious indication of this here (23).
Compositional sketches for several of Delaroche's paintings survive; Joan of
Arc in Prison (London, Wallace Collection), for example, was painted as the
sketch fo r Joan if Arc . . . Interrogated in Prison by the Cardinal of Winchester
(1824, Rouen, Musee des Beaux-Arts) (24, 25). Most are smaller than the
fmal versions and all are more freely painted. Delaroche felt strongly that a
preliminary sketch embodied the artist's imaginative process and inspiration
(26). The only known compositional study for The Execution if Lady Jane
Grey is a small watercolor in the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (Fig. 2).
Here, Delaroche sets the figures within a Romanesque interior and only the
executioner, who stands in profile holding a sword, is significantly different
from the large final version (27). Many minor alterations can be attributed to
scaling up and improving the composition: modifYing the background arcade
and staircase, for example, and simplifYing the costumes. The striking transformation
is in the color, which is so resonant and warm in the finished
version in contrast to the cooler and less coherent tonalities of the watercolor.
In the sketch, the executioner is dressed in dull green and red; the attendant
facing the column is portrayed in deep blue, rather than rich dark purple. In
the sketch, light plays evenly across the room; in the painting, it is more
concentrated on the figures, although the pattern of light fall is similar. The
squat, oddly appealing figures of the tiny watercolor have been transformed
into an elegant, theatrical "tableau."
The next step was to make drawings for the composition's elements. Much
importance was traditionally attached to drawing, and Delaroche produced
hundreds of drawings during his career (28). Several must have been made
for The Execution if Lady Jane Grey. Two studies for it on paper certainly
survive, one in the Musee du Louvre in Paris, the other in the British Museum
in London (Fig. 3) (29). The Louvre sheet shows the figure of the
executioner on the left, squared up fo r transfer: It is very close to that in the
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Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice