Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)

Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)

George Richmond

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Richmond began his career as a member of "The Ancients," and close friend of Samuel Palmer. The two shared a life-long devotion to Milton, and this drawing relates to a painting inspired by the poet's "Comus, a Masque." Richmond worked on the canvas (now at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), for three decades before exhibiting it in 1864. He represents a pivotal moment when Comus, who combines aspects of Bacchus and Puck, tells his dancing followers to hide in the woods. Previously, they have invited a girl they found lost in the wood to join them, but now hear her brothers approaching to reclaim her. In response, Comus commands, "Break off, Break off, I feel the different pace, / Of some chaste footing near about this ground, / Run to your shrouds, within the breaks and trees; / Our number may affright." The basic visual dynamic demonstrates Richmond's close study of Titian’s "Bacchus and Ariadne," at the National Gallery in London.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)Compositional Study for "Comus–The Measure" (recto); Studies of a Man's Right Leg, after Titian, and a Profile, for "Comus–The Measure" (verso)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.