Charles de Sousy Ricketts

Sitterback to top

• Charles de Sousy Ricketts (1866-1931), Painter, designer and art collector. Sitter in 8 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Charles Haslewood Shannon (1863-1937), Painter and lithographer. Artist of 11 portraits, Sitter in 12 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This sensitive drawing was made shortly after the critical success of the oil portrait of Ricketts. Shannon noted in his diary that it was a study for a double portrait of the pair. The introspective feel of the drawing is at odds with descriptions of Ricketts's restless and eloquent manner but perhaps hints at the loneliness and pessimism that some detected beneath his charismatic exterior. During this period, he was researching his book, The Prado (1903) and later wrote an evocative account of the pair's artistic hero, Titian (1910).

Linked publicationsback to top

• Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 143
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 523

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• Ricketts and Shannon: A creative partnership (28 March 2009 - 18 October 2009)