The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Mater Dolorosa (Mourning Mother)

Mater Dolorosa (Mourning Mother)

1776
(British, 1734–1802)
Sheet: 50.1 x 29.3 cm (19 3/4 x 11 9/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The painting to which this drawing relates was never realized because an Old Master Italian canvas was donated and took its place in the chapel for which it was intended.

Description

George Romney drew prolifically and his vivid spontaneity is most apparent in hundreds of bold studies rendered in a highly personalized style. This preparatory drawing was for an unrealized history painting intended to decorate the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. The simplified figure of the mourning Virgin was drawn with flowing lines and heavy ribbons of wash. Romney gave form to the mournful tone of his subject with descending lines that pool at the bottom of the composition. The Virgin’s oversized, pleading hands further emphasize the pathos of his subject.
  • ?-?
    Alfred A. de Pass [1861-1953, L. 108a], London
    ?-1970
    (Paul Drey Gallery, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    1970-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October-December 1970." Art Quarterly 34, no. 2 (Summer 1971). Mentioned: p. 253
    Dixon, Yvonne Romney. "Designs from Fancy": George Romney's Shakespearean Drawings. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, 1998. Mentioned: p. 219
    Lemonedes, Heather. British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Mentioned: pp. 34-35, 148, no. 7; Reproduced: p. 35
  • British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
    The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990).
    Brush Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 3-May 10, 1981).
    Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).
  • {{cite web|title=Mater Dolorosa (Mourning Mother)|url=false|author=George Romney|year=1776|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1970.338