Two studies of hands

Evelyn de Morgan was greatly influenced by her uncle John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908), who introduced her to Italian Renaissance painting. Her own works are immediately distinctive in their rich use of colour, allegory and the dominance of the female form. De Morgan’s preliminary studies, of which this work is one, conveys the strength of her training at the Slade School of Art, particularly famed for its emphasis on the teaching of life-drawing to its students