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A Portrait of Welby Sherman Asleep in a Chair
About the Artwork
George Richmond’s study of his friend, the dozing artist, Welby Sherman, was endearingly inscribed, "As he may be seen after dinner." Dressed in a cravat and jacket and seated in a hard-backed chair, Sherman has momentarily drifted off, perhaps during a lull in friendly conversation. Minute touches of black wash define the bridge of his nose, eyelashes, and brow, and exquisitely subtle graphite hatching expresses the soft curves of the youthful sitter’s features. Touches of pink wash on the lips and cheek breathe life into the figure.
Inscriptions
inscribed, in graphite, at lower margin: Welby Sherman / May 16th as he may be seen after dniner / 1828; inscribed in graphite, on verso, upper half of sheet: From Mrs. Hartley's Scrap-Book
Provenance
?-?: Mrs. Miriam Hartley (great-great-grandaughter of the artist) ?-?: (Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., London) ?-?: (Shaunagh Fitzgerald, Ltd., London) ?-1981: Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Greene, Cleveland, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 1981-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982). National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 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).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- George Richmond (British, 1809–1896)
- Date
- 1828
- Medium
- graphite with touches of watercolor
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 16 x 13.2 cm (6 5/16 x 5 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Greene by exchange
- Accession no.
- 1981.29
More by George Richmond in museum collections
Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness (recto); Two portrait studies of the artist's wife, and a study of a leg and torso (verso)
George Richmond1829–33 · Drawing
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011094
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