The Prisoner of Chillon, study for the right-hand brother with raised arm

Ford Madox Brown (1821 - 1893)

Date: 1844-1845

Dimensions:

1003 x 543 mm

Medium: Pencil on paper

Object number: GA1961

DescriptionPencil sketch for right-hand brother in Madox Brown's oil painting of 1843 titled The Prisoner of Chillon (Manchester Art Gallery). The narrative of the painting is taken from a poem written by Byron and is about three brothers who were held prisoner in the dungeons of the Chateau of Chillon located on Lake Geneva. This study in pencil is for the eldest of the three brothers who, in the final oil painting, stands almost silhouetted against the light to the right of the picture. Art historian and author of the Ford Madox Brown catalogue raisonné, Mary Bennett, has identified that on this particular male figure, the head and right shoulders are also close to those of the helmeted soldier supporting his wounded companion in the right background of the William the Conqueror cartoon of the same period; (verso of GA0485. The complete cartoon and a number of its studies are also held by the Southwark Art Collection).

(Benjamin Angwin - November 2014)