The Hours

Samuel Shelley British

Not on view

The three women in this sketch echo the Graces (nude females in Greek and Roman art often shown holding hands in a circle). Inscriptions on this sheet indicate that Shelley intended the figures here to represent the past, present and future, and he likely made the work as he prepared a minature for the Academy exhibition of 1801 where the figures appear clothed (see MMA 26.168.71).

The Hours, Samuel Shelley (British, London 1756–1808 London), Pen and brown ink

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