Classical Figures, after Charles Le Brun
John Hamilton Mortimer British
After Charles Le Brun French
Not on view
The figures in this early study are based on ones that appear in Charles Le Brun's "Alexander's Entrance into Babylon" (Louvre). Since Britain and France were at war between 1759 and 1763, Mortimer must have worked from a painted or engraved copy. As a teenager, he became ambitious to pursue history painting in the studio of Robert Edge Pine, then drew sculptures and casts in the Duke of Richmond's Gallery and attended classes at the St. Martin's Lane Academy and Shipley's Drawing School. The style here is close to studies that Mortimer made for two early paintings "Edward the Confessor Stripping his Mother of Her Effects" (1763, Huntington Library, San Marino) and "St. Paul Preaching to the Ancient Britains" (1764, Guildhall, High Wycombe).
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
