Guess My Name

1821·Black and red Conté crayon, with graphite, heightened with white chalk on tan laid paper, laid down·Primary support: 10.3 × 18 cm (4 1/16 × 7 1/8 in.); Secondary support: 18 × 25.7 cm (7 1/8 × 10 1/8 in.)

<p>This drawing is a preparatory study for a genre scene commissioned by a German nobleman in 1820 and shown at the Royal Academy in 1821. Executed in the three-chalk technique, the sheet betrays the influence of Rubens’s drawings, which Wilkie could have seen in Paris in 1814. In a subject of the artist’s own devising, a young woman covers a potential suitor’s eyes, but will he identify her correctly?</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1821
Medium: Black and red Conté crayon, with graphite, heightened with white chalk on tan laid paper, laid down
Dimensions: Primary support: 10.3 × 18 cm (4 1/16 × 7 1/8 in.); Secondary support: 18 × 25.7 cm (7 1/8 × 10 1/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: David Wilkie

Artist

David Wilkie

Painting

Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter, especially known for his genre scenes. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes, portraits, including formal royal ones, and scenes from his travels to Europe and the Middle East. His main base was in London, but he died and was buried at sea, off Gibraltar, returning from his first trip to the Middle East. He was sometimes known as the "people's painter".

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More by David Wilkie

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The Only Child; The Jew's Harp; The Cut Finger; Blind Man's Buff; The Rent Day; The Scotch Piper; The Prieu-Dieu; and Self Portrait: A Sketch of the Eight Paintings Framed and Hanging on a Wall

1900

WW-1900-547285