Drawing of carved acanthus leaf ornament, February 17 1842

Henry Hugh Armstead RA (1828 - 1905)

RA Collection: Art

An accomplished black chalk drawing of carved acanthus leaf ornament. Given the date, Armstead almost certainly made this drawing at the School of Design at Somerset House where he was a student from c. 1841 before joining the Royal Academy Schools in April 1847. At both institutions, artists studied casts of architectural ornament as well as figurative sculpture.

Some of Armstead's student drawings of casts after antique statues are slightly awkward in execution. This confidently drawn study, however, successfully renders the texture of the carved surfaces and delineates the sharp contrasts of light and shade produced by the relief design.

The cast from which this is drawn is from one of the Villa Medici pilasters. The Royal Academy has a larger section of this pilaster 12/2288.