Details

Object type

pastel; watercolour

Title

The Sleeping Princess

Artist/Maker

Frances Macdonald

Date

circa 1896

Materials

pastel, watercolour, paper

Dimensions

framed: 407 mm x 673 mm x 23 mm;unframed: 191 mm x 460 mm;sight size: 184 mm x 457 mm; overall (including permanent mount) 518 mm x 776 mm

Description

Pastel, pencil and watercolour drawing titled The Sleeping Princess by Frances Macdonald, circa 1895-96. In accompanying repoussé and chased copper frame, also designed and made by the artist, E.1946.5.f.

The motto along the lower part of the accompanying frame for this work, “Love if thy tresses be so dark, how dark those hidden eyes must be”, is from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s 1842 poem “The Day-Dream”. Frances took his description of the princess as her starting point: the long black hair; the gossamer shawl over her shoulders. Her imagining of his “silk star-broidered” quilt anticipates the fabric patternings of Gustav Klimt.

This is Frances’ only known chalk pastel drawing, and it is on tissue paper – not a traditional combination of media. Her unusual choice became clear during conservation work: on an additional sheet of paper below the chalk pastel layer was adhered a hidden pencil outline drawing of the composition. Presumably her choices of media were to guide her hand in a less familiar, and more bulky, medium.

Credit Line/Donor

Presented by Mrs Alice Talwin Morris, 1946

ID Number

PR.1977.13.u

Location

In storage