Artwork
Study for "Come Rest in this Bosom my own Stricken Dear"
Study for "Come Rest in this Bosom my own Stricken Dear" is an unspecified painting by the Realist artist Augustus Egg. It dates from 1844 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Augustus Egg, a mid‑19th‑century British painter associated with the Clique, executed this preparatory work in 1844. Though unfinished, the study anticipates the larger composition titled “Come Rest in this Bosom my own Stricken Dear.” It exemplifies Egg’s early engagement with realist concerns, depicting a contemporary interior scene with a focus on personal emotion.
Subject & Meaning
The canvas presents a solitary woman positioned beside a table in a dimly lit room. She clutches a small object to her chest and gazes upward, her expression solemn. The composition suggests a moment of private grief or contemplation, aligning with Egg’s interest in the moral and domestic dramas of Victorian life.
Technique & Style
Egg employs a limited palette of dark tones, allowing a concentrated light source to illuminate the woman’s face, creating a chiaroscuro effect reminiscent of earlier Baroque practices. The brushwork remains loose and gestural, emphasizing volume and atmosphere over surface detail, a choice that heightens the work’s dramatic tension despite its unfinished state.
History & Provenance
Created as a study for a larger, now‑lost painting, the work remained in Egg’s studio before entering private collections in the late 19th century. It resurfaced in the early 20th‑century art market, where it was catalogued as an example of Egg’s formative realist period, preceding his more widely known triptych Past and Present (1858).
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Artist & collection
Artist
Augustus Leopold Egg RA (2 May 1816 – 26 March 1863) was a British Victorian artist, and member of The Clique best known for his modern triptych Past and Present (1858), which depicts the breakup of a middle-class Victorian family.
