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Interior with three figures (study for Slender, with the Assistance of Shallow, Courting Anne Page?)

Maker

Attributed to
(artist)
1794-1859

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1755-1834

Title

Date of Production

c. 1823 - 1825

Medium

graphite, brown wash on wove paper, laid down on a historic paper support

Dimensions

Height: 10.8 cm
Width: 13.5 cm

Accession Number

D.1955.WF.4612

Mode of Acquisition

Witt Fund, purchase, 1955

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Notes

This drawing appears to be either a sketch for, or a copy after, Charles Robert Leslie's painting of Anne Page, Slender and Shadow. An 1825 version is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art (inv. no. B1981.13.2) Certain elements are missing from the drawing that appear in the painting, most notably the chair to the right of the doorway. Engraved versions of the composition (for example, the impression in the British Museum, inv. no. 1849,0512.307) also omit the chair, suggesting that the chair was either a later addition, or that the sketch relates to a different version to the Yale one. A version dated 1823 that was offered for sale at Sotheby's Belgravia on 29 June 1976 (lot 66), with the made up title "The Bashful Lover" is much closer to the Courtauld drawing's composition. Scott Thomas Buckle suggests, based on the above evidence, that The Courtauld's drawing is by Leslie, with an added "T. Stothard" signature, rather than a copy by Stothard, whose drawing style is different (email communication, 31 March 2025).

Provenance

Witt Fund Purchase 1955

Literature

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 49

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower right edge, brown ink: “T. Stothard”. Support (historic), Recto: lower right, graphite, Witt number: “Stothard / 4612”.

Collector's mark: none.

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