David Wilkie, R.A. (Fife 1785-1841 Malta)
THE ROSS COLLECTION FROM KNOCKMORE, ENNISKERRY, WICKLOW (lots 157-193)
David Wilkie, R.A. (Fife 1785-1841 Malta)

Study for 'John Knox dispensing the sacrament at Calder House', drawn on the back of the artist's list of Royal Academy Submissions 1839, leading with 'Sir David Baird drawing the body of Tippo Saib after his capture at Seringa Patam on 4th of May 1799'

Details
David Wilkie, R.A. (Fife 1785-1841 Malta)
Study for 'John Knox dispensing the sacrament at Calder House', drawn on the back of the artist's list of Royal Academy Submissions 1839, leading with 'Sir David Baird drawing the body of Tippo Saib after his capture at Seringa Patam on 4th of May 1799'
with signature 'Sir D. Wilkie.' (lower left)
pen and brown ink, with a partial Britannia watermark
6 1/8 x 7 ½ in. (5.6 x 19 cm.)

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Jonathan den Otter
Jonathan den Otter

Lot Essay

Begun in 1839, John Knox Dispensing the Sacrament at Calder House was never finished. A sketch and the unfinished painting are both at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. Wilkie was working on two versions of the subject when he set out in 1840 on his journey to the East, from which he never returned.
Another sketch of the subject taken from the same sheet as the present drawing, with a continuation of the description of Wilkie's 1839 R.A. exhibits on the verso, is also in the National Gallery of Scotland.

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