[Infant Shakespeare nursed by Comedy and Tragedy] [graphic].

[England], [1783 November?]

1 drawing : pen and ink ; sheet 112 x 187 mm, mount 172 x 246 mm

paper

Working drawing, possibly a preparatory study for Romney's painting The infant Shakespeare attended by Nature and the Passions (now Folger Shakespeare Library FPa49).

Title based on similar sketches described and dated by Yvonne Romney Dixon ("Designs from fancy" : George Romney's Shakespearean drawings / by Yvonne Romney Dixon. Washington, D.C. : Folger Shakespeare Library, 1998, p. 180).

This drawing was formerly p. 21 of a sketchbook dated November 1783. Numbered '18' on the reverse.

Formerly in a sketchbook owned by Alfred de Pass (L. 2104E) and given to the Royal Institute of Cornwall, Truro; sold at Christie's, London, 22 February 1966, lot 24 (part of an album of sketches and notes). Anonymous sale; sold at Sotheby's, London, 18 June 1970, lot 89 (as A figure study: study for the infant Shakespeare nursed by Comedy and Tragedy). Jerrold and Jackie Ziff; sold at Christie's, New York, 1-3 October 2007, lot 1034.

Purchased at Christie's, London, Sale 6574, "Andrew Wyld: Connoisseur Dealer," 10 July 2012, lot 30, along with Romney drawings of Lady Macbeth (lot 31; now Folger ART 267- 542) and Macbeth confronting Banquo's ghost (lot 37; now Folger ART 267- 540).

London, 2008. W/S Fine Art, no. 7.
London, 2009. W/S Fine Art, no. 48.

Great Britain -- England.

ART 267- 541 (size XS)

Purchased with funds from The Eric and Mary Weinmann Acquisitions Fund

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