Study for a Male Figure in "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Reclining Male Nude (verso)

George Richmond

before 1864 · Black chalk · Drawings and Prints

The study of a muscular male nude on the recto of this sheet relates to Richmond’s painting "Comus" exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1864 (now Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). The story, told in Milton's masque-poem, concerns a girl separated from her brothers in a dark wood who encounters the reveler Comus and his band of followers. A figure based on this drawing appears near the center of the final composition, and Richmond likely based the pose on a figure in Titian’s painting "The Andrians" (Prado, Madrid).

Artist

George Richmond

Date

before 1864

Medium

Black chalk

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2013