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Source Description
For William Mulready, drawing was a lifelong preoccupation. This sheet was drawn from a model in the Royal Academy’s life school when the artist was 73. He was one of the Academy’s most devoted teachers, positioning the model for his students and then drawing alongside them. Closely observed and meticulously crafted, the work attests to Mulready’s consummate skill as a draftsman, and the weather-beaten face of the male model is as arresting today as it was in Victorian London.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
170719
label
Head of a Bearded Man Gazing to His Left
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
170719
contentType
drawing
title
Head of a Bearded Man Gazing to His Left
description
For William Mulready, drawing was a lifelong preoccupation. This sheet was drawn from a model in the Royal Academy’s life school when the artist was 73. He was one of the Academy’s most devoted teachers, positioning the model for his students and then drawing alongside them. Closely observed and meticulously crafted, the work attests to Mulready’s consummate skill as a draftsman, and the weather-beaten face of the male model is as arresting today as it was in Victorian London.
date
1859
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80079807
creators
1268
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 22.6 x 18.4 cm (8 7/8 x 7 1/4 in.); Secondary Support: 28.1 x 24 cm (11 1/16 x 9 7/16 in.)
cul
England, 19th century
accession
2013.241
Source extras
tec
pen and brown ink
tombstone
Head of a Bearded Man Gazing to His Left, 1859. William Mulready (British, 1786–1863). Pen and brown ink; sheet: 22.6 x 18.4 cm (8 7/8 x 7 1/4 in.); secondary support: 28.1 x 24 cm (11 1/16 x 9 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz, 2013.241
supportMaterials
description
wove paper lined with antique laid paper
collection
DR - British
inscriptions
inscription
inscribed, in brown ink, at lower left: R Academy / 24 June 1859 / W.M.; inscribed, in graphite, at lower left corner: 156
didYouKnow
This instantly recognizable model was the subject of at least one other drawing, titled <em>Head of an Old Man</em>, in the collection of Tate Britain today.
citations
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 108-111, 147, no. 36b; Reproduced: p. 111
creditline
Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:45:29.398000
sourceId
170719
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
pen and brown ink
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
bc7397e6d94960e7