Francis Philip Stephanoff, A scene from Don Quixote

A scene from Don Quixote, by 1860

Francis Philip Stephanoff (1788 - 1860)

RA Collection: Art

A sepia drawing of a scene from Cervantes' Don Quixote. In the centre of the composition four figures crowd around a book, and in the background are shelves and other figures.

This illustrates the episode in Don Quixote's library in which the curate, the barber, the housekeeper and Quixote's niece conspire to 'remove the cause of his illness' by throwing his books out of the window with the intention of burning them afterwards.

This work comes from one of sixteen volumes of Royal Academy Annual Exhibition catalogues that were collected and extra-illustrated by the lawyer and antiquarian Edward Basil Jupp F.S.A. (1812 - 1877). The catalogues span the period from the first annual exhibition in 1769 up to 1875. Jupp added drawings, prints, letters and autographs by, or referring to, Academicians and other exhibitors at the Academy's annual exhibition.

E.B. Jupp was a solicitor who married Eliza Kay, daughter of the architect William Porden Kay. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a clerk of the Carpenters' Company, of which he published a history. Jupp amassed a large collection of paintings by British and Dutch artists, drawings, prints, books and porcelain most of which was sold after his death, at Christie's in February 1878.

Many of the drawings in Jupp's Royal Academy extra-illustrated volumes were bought from art sales during the 1860s. He was also acquainted with a number of contemporary artists and several drawings in the later volumes (along with many of the letters and autographs) were sent from the artists themselves.

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Object details

Title
A scene from Don Quixote
Artist/designer
Date
by 1860
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pencil, sepia wash and watercolour on wove paper
Dimensions

174 mm x 126 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
03/5272
Acquisition
Given by Leverhulme Trust 1936
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