by-nc

Head of a frogmouth and skull of an oilbird

Maker

(artist)
1819-1900

Title

Head of a frogmouth and skull of an oilbird

Date of Production

1874

Medium

graphite and white chalk on blue wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 17.9 cm
Width: 25.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2468.2

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords






Provenance

by descent to the artist's cousin and heir, Joan Agnew Severn (1846-1924) and her husband, Joseph Arthur Palliser Severn (1842-1931); his estate sale, Sotheby's (London), 20 May 1931, lot 93 (with D.1952.RW.2468.1, 2469.1, 2469.2 and 2470); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

John Ruskin: Art and Wonder, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, 29/05/2019-15/09/2019

Literature

Drawing - Technique and Purpose, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1981
cat. no. 210
as The skull of an ibis

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 44

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

Inscription: Recto: left centre, graphite, described: "Batrachostomus / Auritus"; lower right, graphite, described: "Steatornis / Caripensis"; lower left edge, brown ink, signed and dated: "John Ruskin 1874 Study for notes to Love's Meinie". Verso: upper left corner, graphite: "93".

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