Mrs. Grant, Knitting

Maker David Wilkie (Scottish, 1785 - 1841)

Collections

British Drawing Highlights

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Date1834

Mediumblack, red,and white chalks, watercolor, and pen and brown ink on wove paper mounted on paper

Dimensions13 1/4 x 10 3/4 in. (33.7 x 27.3 cm.)

SignedSignature; Date D Wilkie ft. 1834

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gilbert Davis Collection

Status

Not on view

Label TextSeemingly made for the artist’s own interest, rather than as a study for an oil painting, this drawing shows Wilkie’s confidence in his own ideas and execution. It is probably a portrait of Isabella, the wife of Francis Grant—a Scottish painter Wilkie knew from the Royal Academy—drawn in the combination of chalk and watercolor the artist had come to prefer. Thin, fluid lines define the figure’s body in contrast to the tangible volume of the head and hands. It is an image of subtle sensuality, as an over-the-shoulder viewpoint allows Wilkie to focus on the graceful curve of the woman’s neck, emphasized by the fall of her long drop earring (2022).

Object number59.55.1451

Terms

Exhibitions

Friends and Family: British Artists Depict their Circle