Study of a Head
Date1860
Artist
Valentine Cameron Prinsep
(English painter, 1838–1904)
MediumGraphite and gouache on paper
Dimensionssheet: 7 1/8 × 6 5/8 in. (18.1 × 16.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mark Samuels Lasner, 2013
Object number2013-5
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextValentine Prinsep was an important if peripheral figure in the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He was the nephew of the celebrated photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and grew up within this intense artistic milieu. He took part in the infamous decoration of the Oxford Union with the other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The subject of this drawing is not yet identified, however the inscription on the front “Spurgeon’s, January 9th, 1860” is probably a reference to the famous Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), of whom the pre-Raphaelites would have been aware.
