Portrait drawing of a young woman

F. Ernest Jackson ARA (1872 - 1945)

RA Collection: Art

A detailed portrait drawing of the head of a young woman in three-quarter profile. The portrait is drawn in pencil on to a sheet of thick cream paper that has been covered with pink paint. Down the right edge of the sheet are two quick profile sketches of the same sitter - one drawn in pencil and one in red chalk - as well as a detail of her nose. These drawings are more like caricatures, but the pinholes and other markings on the sheet suggest that the main study was a preparatory work for either a painted portrait or a lithograph.

In F. Ernest Jackson and his School (2000), J. G. P. Delaney points out that although Jackson was never a very famous artist he was well known in the art world, particularly as a teacher. His drawings were singled out for particular praise by such artists as Augustus John, who described Jackson as 'a very fine draughtsman - indeed one of the best not only of his period, but of the whole of British art'. Similarly, Sir Gerald Kelly noted that after twenty years of teaching at the Royal Academy Schools, many of Jackson's pupils considered their teacher to be 'one of the greatest draughtsmen England ever had, and how right they were'.

Thihs drawing has been conserved through a generous donation from the artist's granddaughter, Margaret Bear, 2012.