The Sleeping Model
| The Sleeping Model | |
|---|---|
| Artist | William Powell Frith |
| Year | 1853 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, genre painting |
| Dimensions | 63.2 cm × 72.8 cm (24.9 in × 28.7 in) |
| Location | Royal Academy of Arts, London |
The Sleeping Model is an oil on canvas genre painting by the British artist William Powell Frith, from 1853.[1]
History and description
It shows a scene in the artist's own studio as he tries to paint a model who has fallen asleep in her chair. It features a self-portrait of himself as he doggedly continues to paint the young woman, an orange seller, smiling and awake. Frith had a great deal of trouble persuading the woman who he encountered in the street to pose for him, partly due to the fact that she was a Catholic. Having eventually coaxed her to sit, she then fell asleep while he was working.[2] The incident led Frith to produce this work inspired by the incident.[3] When Frith was elected to be a full member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1853 he presented this as his diploma work. It remains in the collection of the Royal Academy today.[4]
References
Bibliography
- Green, Richard & Sellars, Jane. William Powell Frith: The People's Painter. Bloomsbury, 2019.
- Trotter, David. William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age. Yale University Press, 2006.
- Wood, Christopher. William Powell Frith: A Painter and His World. Sutton Publishing, 2006.