A Lady contemplating Suicide (Juliet from William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet')
attributed to Charles Robert Leslie (London 1794 - London 1859)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1852 - 1870
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
595 x 443 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485172
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, A Lady Contemplating Suicide (Juliet from William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', Act IV, sc. 3), attributed to Charles Robert Leslie (London 1794 - London 1859), circa 1852. A young woman in pink, seated at a table in a darkened room, facing, with eyes cast down and to proper right. With elbows resting on the table, the proper left hand brought to the breast, the proper right hand holding a bottle. Atop the table ties a box, dagger and jewellery. A white dress is strewn in the immediate foreground. This picture has been attributed (erroneously) to Gilbert Stuart Newton (Halifax 1794 - Chelsea 1835) but a painting called Juliet, "What if it be a poison, etc" was exhibited at the Royal Academy by Leslie in 1852 and after Leslie's death an autograph version (possibly the original) was exhibited in 1870 (230), then owned by T. J. Turmer (sold Christie's, London, Victorian and Traditionalist Pictures, 23 November 2005, lot. 186). See also The Present, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston (P368), and The Locket, McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Inverclyde (1977.937).
Provenance
By descent; on loan from the Egremont Private Collection
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection
Makers and roles
attributed to Charles Robert Leslie (London 1794 - London 1859), artist previously catalogued as by Gilbert Stuart Newton (Halifax 1794 - Chelsea 1835), artist