The Coral Necklace

About the Artwork

Closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Frederick Sandys was a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and played an active role in the bohemian artistic, literary, and theatrical circles of the day in London. This is a portrait of Mary Emma Jones, the artist’s favorite model, mistress, and mother of his nine children. An extraordinarily skilled draftsman, here he worked in tone rather than line, delicately drawing in chalk on a rough textured sheet and leaving the low points of the paper untouched to produce a stippled, hazy effect.

Inscriptions

signed, upper right, in black chalk: F Sandys 1871

Exhibition history

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).

Quick Overview

Artist: Frederick Sandys (British, 1829–1904)
Date: 1871
Medium: black, brown, and red chalk
Dimensions: Sheet: 55.9 x 39.2 cm (22 x 15 7/16 in.); Secondary Support: 57.1 x 40 cm (22 1/2 x 15 3/4 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession no.: 1997.7

Provenance

?-1927: J. Beecroft, Esq., Bradford, England 1927: (his sale, Christie's, London, February 21, 1927, no. 68) after 1927-1964: Dr. J. N. Nicoll 1964: (his sale, Sotheby's, London, October 29, 1964, no. 225) after 1964-before 1966: C. Powney, Esq. 1966: (Sotheby's, London, December 21, 1966, no. 305) after 1966-before 1992: Anthony C. W. Crane 1992: (his sale, Sotheby's, London, November 12, 1992, no. 157) after 1992-before 1997: Hartnoll after 1992-1997: (Kate Ganz Ltd., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1997-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

More by Frederick Sandys in museum collections

Susanna Anderson Rose
Frederick Sandys
1862 · Painting
Museum collection · via the Cleveland Museum of ArtAT-00009287

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.