Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011013Woman Standing among the Friars (recto) Sketches of Heads (verso, left); Two Women (verso, right)
by John Brown
About the Artwork
John Brown is known for a small group of monochromatic drawings imbued with sinister overtones. At the age of 20, the Scottish artist traveled to Italy where he spent the next 12 years. This drawing exemplifies his Roman street scenes which often depict women dressed in spectacular, billowing costumes. Here, a figure with bare ankles and plunging décolletage is surrounded by a crowd of men who leer at her. The reverse of the sketchbook sheet includes two independent drawings: a study of faces in fierce and intense expressions, and a pair of women wearing swirling gowns. One figure raises her hand in a mysterious gesture, either beckoning or forewarning the viewer.
Provenance
?-?: (William Young Ottley, London) ?-1830: Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769-1830], London 1830: (sale, Christie's, June 17, 1830, no. 99, purchased by Russell) 1830-?: Russell ?-?: Private Collection, Paris ?-1969: (Eugene V. Thaw and Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1969-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970). The Poetical Circle: Fuseli and the British. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (April 24-May 27, 1979); Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Austria (June 5-July 29, 1979); Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (organizer) (September 1-27, 1979); Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand (October 24-November 25, 1979). Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- John Brown (British, 1752–1787)
- Date
- c. 1770–75
- Medium
- graphite and gray and black wash with point of brush
- Dimensions
- Image: 25.8 x 36.9 cm (10 3/16 x 14 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Dudley P. Allen Fund
- Accession no.
- 1969.28
More by John Brown in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011013
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