Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

168

Figure 2. Paul Delaroche, Study for The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, ca. 1833. Wa tercolor

and body color over pencil, with varnish, 18.4 X 14.3 em. University of Manchester, f;IIh itworth Art

Gallery.

steps may be observed in The Execution if Lady Jane Grey and other works

by Paul Delaroche. It must be remembered that the artist may have been

assisted by students at certain stages in the production of a painting of this

size, even though there is no obvious indication of this here (23).

Compositional sketches fo r several of Delaroche's paintings survive; Joan of

Arc in Prison (London, Wallace Collection), fo r example, was painted as the

sketch fo r Joan if Arc... Interrogated in Prison by the Cardinal of Winchester

(1824, Rouen, Musee des Beaux-Arts) (24, 25). Most are smaller than the

fmal versions and all are more freely painted. Delaroche felt strongly that a

preliminary sketch embodied the artist's imaginative process and inspiration

(26). The only known compositional study fo r The Execution if Lady Jane

Grey is a small watercolor in the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (Fig. 2).

Here, Delaroche sets the figures within a Romanesque interior and only the

executioner, who stands in profile holding a sword, is significantly different

from the large final version (27). Many minor alterations can be attributed to

scaling up and improving the composition: modifYing the background arcade

and staircase, fo r example, and simplifYing the costumes. The striking trans­

fo rmation is in the color, which is so resonant and warm in the finished

version in contrast to the cooler and less coherent tonalities of the watercolor.

In the sketch, the executioner is dressed in dull green and red; the attendant

facing the column is portrayed in deep blue, rather than rich dark purple. In

the sketch, light plays evenly across the room; in the painting, it is more

concentrated on the figures, although the pattern of light fall is similar. The

squat, oddly appealing figures of the tiny watercolor have been transformed

into an elegant, theatrical "tableau."

The next step was to make drawings fo r the composition's elements. Much

importance was traditionally attached to drawing, and Delaroche produced

hundreds of drawings during his career (28). Several must have been made

fo r The Execution if Lady Jane Grey. Two studies fo r it on paper certainly

survive, one in the Musee du Louvre in Paris, the other in the British Mu­

seum in London (Fig. 3) (29). The Louvre sheet shows the figure of the

executioner on the left, squared up fo r transfer: It is very close to that in the

Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice