Sir Frank Dicksee PRA, Mercy

Mercy

Sir Frank Dicksee PRA (1853 - 1928)

RA Collection: Art

This watercolour sketch depicts Christ and a kneeling woman in a rocky landscape with a luminous sunset in the background. Although the title given on the mount is simply 'Mercy', this appears to be a depiction of Christ and Mary Magdalen.

This drawing was made at the Langham Sketching Club. The club was founded in 1838 and Dicksee joined in the 1870s while still a student at the Royal Academy Schools. He, and a number of other artists, are known to have developed some of their successful oil paintings for exhibition on sketches produced at meetings of the Langham Club, or as the Art Journal put it 'many a well-known painting, afterwards distinguished on the walls of the Royal Academy, has been inspired by a Langham sketch'.

These watercolour sketches were all produced at meetings of the Langham Sketching Club. The club was founded in 1838 and Dicksee joined in the 1870s while still a student at the Royal Academy Schools.

The club ran various drawing sessions including a life class but these watercolours are clearly from the regular Friday evening meeting during which members drew scenes from memory. On each occasion a subject was set, often a single word as seems to have been the case with these examples ('Mercy', 'Repose' etc) and members were then allowed 'two hours, over pipes and coffee' to complete their work. Punch magazine observed; 'marvellous these rapid acts of sketchmanship! The Impressionists nowhere!'. Although some of the sketches were landscapes or animal studies, in general members of the club favoured narrative and often historical scenes. The Art Journal noted that: 'Historical and rustic entirely defines the aims of these honest searchers for the picturesque. If the word picturesque wasn't invented already, it must have been created for the use and pleasure of the Langham Club'.

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Object details

Title
Mercy
Artist/designer
Sir Frank Dicksee PRA (1853 - 1928)
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Watercolour on paper
Dimensions

163 mm x 133 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
09/2105
Acquisition
Bequeathed by Sir Frank Dicksee PRA 1933
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