Dimensions image: 165 x 115 mm
Editor: This is Arthur Hughes' sketch, "Study for ‘The Eve of St Agnes’." It feels so immediate and raw. What strikes you most about its composition? Curator: The dynamism of the crossed figures is particularly compelling. Note how the artist uses layering and line to convey the figures in motion, almost as if capturing a fleeting moment. Editor: The lines are so simple, yet they manage to convey so much emotion. It's fascinating. Curator: Indeed, the seeming simplicity is deceptive. Observe the angles, how they direct the viewer's eye and imply the narrative beyond what's literally depicted. We see the essential geometry of the figures. Editor: I see that now! It's like a study in pure form. Curator: Precisely. Hughes employs the economy of line to underscore both the lovers' passion and the ethereal quality of the moment. Editor: I've definitely gained a new appreciation for the power of preliminary sketches! Curator: As have I; it's a testament to the artist’s ability to evoke deep emotion through minimal means.
Comments
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hughes-study-for-the-eve-of-st-agnes-t07284
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
This drawing is an early sketch for one of the panels (most probably the right-hand panel) in Hughes's 1856 triptych The Eve of St Agnes (Tate Gallery N04604). The painting is based on Keats's poem of the same name. The finished design for the right- hand panel shows the lovers Madeline and Porphyro escaping from the castle. The scene shown by Hughes in this drawing does not appear in Keats's poem, and was presumably discarded by the artist because it departed from the text. Several other sketches for the finished work are also in the Tate (Tate Gallery T06884, T06979).Further reading:Timothy Hilton, The Pre-Raphaelites, London 1970, pp.113-15Leonard Roberts, introduction by Stephen Wildman, Arthur Hughes: His Life and Works, a Catalogue Raisonné, Woodbridge, Suffolk [to be published 1997]Terry RiggsNovember 1997
CollectMore like this
