William Powell Frith, R.A.

Possibly Royal Academy, 1876, no.198

STRUCTURE This picture is relined and in good condition with clear colouring and no sign of craquelure. The paint surface is clean and appears to be stable. There is a small surface abrasion close to the top edge of the canvas and a small area of paint loss on the forehead of the male figure. UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT There is a small area of retouching on the lady's sleeve. FRAME This picture is contained in a moulded plaster frame (in good condition). For more information regarding this picture please contact the Victorian & Edwardian Pictures Department on +44 (0)207 293 5718.
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This picture is probably the version exhibited at the Royal Academy under the title of The Lovers' Seat. In his autobiography there is a suggestion that Frith worked on the picture further the following year, dating it accordingly. The picture shows the writers Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Godwin at the time of their love affair in 1814. Frith, who announced himself 'a worshipper of Shelley, and [one who had] read everything respecting him that came in my way', described how in preparation for the present painting he visited the house of Shelley's son at Boscombe in Dorset, where he studied portraits of the poet and of Mary, and upon which he based their likenesses.

Another version of this composition was offered in these rooms (A Great British Collection - The Pictures Collected by Sir David and Lady Scott, 19 November 2008, lot 130).