.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
The present delicate chalk drawing, dateable to the 1880s, relates to the 1862 oil painting, Mary Magdalene or The Magdalen (Norwich Museums and Archaeology Service) which depicts Mary Magdalene, tears rolling down her cheeks, dressed in an Oriental style robe and holding an alabaster vial close to her chest. Sandys executed a preliminary double study for this painting (op.cit., 2.A.54) in pen and black ink. The present drawing is a red chalk version of the right hand figure. Another version in black and white chalk, in which the sitter is robed and passion flowers and fruit fill the background, is in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. A later drawing, probably post 1896, after the oil painting, also exists (op.cit., 5.26).
The present drawing exemplifies Sandys more mature romantic style, the biblical subject matter operating as a vehicle for a sensuous portrayal of a young woman, the sitter being Mary Emma Jones, who appears in many of Sandys finest works. Mary Emma was an actress with the stage name `Miss Clive’ who became Sandys common-law wife, bearing him numerous children, ten of whom survived to adulthood. The painting of Mary Magdalene is her earliest portrayal in Sandys's oeuvre.
The present drawing exemplifies Sandys more mature romantic style, the biblical subject matter operating as a vehicle for a sensuous portrayal of a young woman, the sitter being Mary Emma Jones, who appears in many of Sandys finest works. Mary Emma was an actress with the stage name `Miss Clive’ who became Sandys common-law wife, bearing him numerous children, ten of whom survived to adulthood. The painting of Mary Magdalene is her earliest portrayal in Sandys's oeuvre.