Romeo and Juliet (1870) by Ford Madox Brown

Byron’s Dream, Ford Madox Brown (1874)

'Out of Town' by Ford Madox Brown

Romeo and Juliet, Ford Madox Brown

Hueffe, F.M. The Brown Owl. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1892. (Illustrator: Ford Maddox Brown).

Sketch For The Body Of Harold Brought Before William The Conqueror

Head of a Page Boy

‘Mercy’ (1865-70)

Study of a Tree Trunk and Roots / Two studies of Tree Trunks

This sheet has studies of trees on both sides. On one side is a detailed study of a tree trunk and roots possibly for the small painting 'The Brent at Hendon' (1854-55, Tate London) although none of the trees in the work match this one exactly. The left tree on the reverse may be the earliest study on the sheet and relate to the cartoon 'Oure Ladye of Saturday Night' (1846, Tate, London).LM

Science (Sir Isaac Newton)

Science (Roger Bacon)

Series of twelve cartoons in the Victoria University

Portrait - Emma Hill (later Mrs Madox Brown)

Emma Hill became Madox Brown's second wife in 1853. This portrait of her was made around Christmas in 1848. It is possibly the earliest drawing of Emma and was made soon after Brown hired her as his model. As Theresa Newman and Ray Watkinson have discovered she seems to have been using her mother's maiden name at the time, following the death of her father, and in his diary Brown refers to her as Miss Stone ('Ford Madox Brown and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle,' pp.45-6) . Although this is a portrait of Emma it also appears to be a head study for Brown's painting 'Lear and Cordelia' (1848-49, oil on canvas, Tate, London). On 13 January 1849 Brown first mentions 'Miss Stone' in his diary as the model sitting for Cordelia: '13th Miss Stone, began a drawing for the head of Cordelia' (Virginia Surtees, ed., 'The Diary of Ford Madox Brown,' p. 56). The angle of the head, the downward gaze and the hairstyle are the same as in the painting. Only the slightly open mouth is different but this appears to have recorded a particular facial feature of Emma's, many of Brown's portraits of her show that her top lip naturally curled up to reveal her teeth (see 1906P790, 1906P791 and 1906P792). It is also possible that arm and hand studies for Lear and Cordelia (1906P758) may have been drawn from Emma. LM

http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/1906P789/portrait-emma-hill-later-mrs-madox-brown/

Infant's Repast - Study of a Mother and Child with separate Arm and Leg Studies of the Child 1848

This is one of three sheets of drawings in the collection for a small picture Brown painted in 1849 called 'Infant's repast' (see also 1906P678 and 1906P758). The surviving oil sketch for it is held at Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton. Brown's diary records that he used Mrs Ashley and her baby as the model for his studies. On 26 and 30 October he wrote respectively: 'drew a study of childs head sucking' and 'worked 4 hours from Mrs Ashley & child, made drawing of the legs & arm etc' (Virginia Surtees, ed., 'The Diary of Ford Madox Brown,' p. 48).The main inspiration for the subject appears to have been Charles West Cope's painting 'The Young Mother' which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1846 (oil on panel, Victoria and Albert Museum, London). The two versions of the subject are small in size and share the same full length profile composition. In fact they are so similar that Brown must have seen it as an opportunity to out do an artistic rival and indulge in his love of eighteenth-century subjects, clothing the mother in period costume rather than contemporary dress.LM

Black chalk on paper.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Madox_Brown

Infant's Repast - Study of a Mother and Child 1848

This is one of two studies for a small painting by Brown called 'Infant's Repast' (1848-49, oil on canvas, Wightwick Manor, Wolverhampton) (see also 1906P679). The model was Mrs Ashley. She is mentioned several times in the artist's diary. In the first entry referring to her, made on 26 January 1848, he noted that she 'came at 11 stopped till four let fire out 3 times & talked all day, will never do.' However, he continued to use her as a model and on 13 October 1848 she began sitting for 'The Infant's Repast.' Brown's diary records that he 'sent for Mrs Ashley & child & began a scetch of them for a little picture of a mother and child.' She stopped modelling for him in 1849 but he unexpectedly bumped into her in a carriage on the way to Gravesend in 1854 (Virginia Surtees, ed., 'The Diary of Ford Madox Brown,' pp. 27 & 48).LM

Black and white chalk on paper.

Wycliffe reading his Translation of the Bible - Study for Head of Chaucer

This is a head study for the figure of Chaucer who stands on the right in front of the poet John Gower in 'Wycliffe reading his Translation of the Bible to John of Gaunt in the Presence of Chaucer and Gower' (1848, oil on canvas, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford). LM

King Lear - Sketches of Lear imagining his unfaithful Daughters' Trial and Lear in the Storm / Alfred the Great - Compositional Studies and Sketches, and The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry - Study of Cherubs

This sheet of paper has been divided in two and contains sketches for two scenes from 'King Lear.' The top sketch is for the scene in which Lear imagines himself at his unfaithful daughters' trial. It shows Lear standing by the farmhouse, symbolised by the two servants and the cooking pot, pointing with his right hand and holding onto his faithful courtier Kent, recognisable from the cloak and sword with which he is depicted throughout the series. On the left of Lear are two seated figures in pencil which represent Edgar and the Fool. The sketch depicts Act III, sc. vi, lines 33-39.The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, holds a loosely drawn sketch for this scene in which the seated figures of Edgar and the Fool are on the right and the two figures of Lear and Kent on the left. Tthere is no known finished drawing for this scene and it may be that Brown eliminated it from his selection after making some initial sketches of it. The lower half of the paper is a study for Lear in the storm ('King Lear,' Act III, sc. ii, 1-24). The final version for this scene is at the Whitworth. On the back of this sheet of drawings are studies for 'Alfred the Great' and 'The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry.' Like the other side of the paper, the reverse has been divided into two. The top half depicts a pencil sketch of the same composition as 1906P754 with the seated figure of King Alfred the Great surrounded by figures. Above this are further figures sketches, drawn from the group surrounding King Alfred. On the lower half of the paper are two pencil sketches of a seated figure and two sketches of a seated couple. In these drawings the figures are more detailed and several have been given individual costumes suggesting that it is the later of the two compositional studies. Brown has signed this sheet of studies 'Alfred the Great / FMB' more firmly identifying the figure who appears on two other works in the collection as King Alfred (1978P513 and 1906P754). Also on this sheet of studies are two putti for the triptych 'The Seeds and Fruits of English Poetry' both in chalk. One of the putti is less detailed and it appears that it is an impression from another chalk drawing as it is very faint and has left no impression on the page. As can be seen from the oil study and the pen and ink study of the right hand side of the 'The Seeds and Fruits,' both at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the putti were paired up at the bottom of the composition and held medallions with the names and symbols of four English poets. It appears Brown was experimenting with the poses of the putti in these studies. It is difficult to date the studies of the putti but they must have been drawn between 1845, when 'The Seeds and Fruits' was first conceived, and 1849, when it seems Brown abandoned the side wings. LM

The Nosegay

This painting was probably made in Paris in 1827 and was inspired not only by the contemporary vogue for Scott's novel, but by the production of Victor Hugo's new play, with scenery and costumes designed by Delacroix.

Watercolour and oil

Ford Madox Brown - Study of a Man Painting: 1839

The Tate Gallery, London

Ford Madox Brown - May Memories

Signed with monogram and dated 69-84

Oil on canvas

Ford Madox Brown began this painting of his second wife, Emma, at his house in Fitzroy Square, London in 1869, retouching and finally working it up for sale in Manchester in May 1884. The year 1870 began as one of some depression does, and held on its course rather languidly. No pictures new in subject were commenced, but designs for pictures, subsequently executed, had their origin in the already referred to illustrations of Moxon's 'Byron'. The early part of the year was occupied by the painting of a fancy portrait' of Mrs Madax Brown, May Memories, of a lady of sumptuous charms sitting amongst a wealth of may-blossoms, meditating on the glories of her may-days in the 'temps jadis'. This picture was, however, not finished until long subsequently. [Hueffer, 255]

... During the early part of the year following [1884] the exigencies of his pocket and the prospect of possible sales caused Madox Brown to recur to his old device of retouching and finishing up old pictures, a kind of work that the months of April and May were devoted. The works treated in this way were the pictures of the Traveller, an oil replica of that work of sixteen years' standing, and the portrait of Mrs Madox Brown, called May Memories. [Hueffer, 366]

Ford Madox Brown - The Establishment of Flemish Weavers in Manchester. AD 1363. Completed 1882.

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/fmb/paintings/8.html