Description

The list that precedes the drawing of Sir Henry Cole reads as follows:

'1 The little White Girl - / { Blue Wave - / {1 Nocturne in blue & silver - /{1 Symphony in White No 3 - / {1 Harmony & [sic] Purple & gold - / {1 The Lange Lize [sic] of Six Marks / { The Mothers picture / { Miss Alexander / {1 Nocturne - / 1 Taking down the scaffolding of Old Westminster / 1 Harmony in flesh & green balcony / 1. Old Battersea Bridge - / Sea & Rain - Mere Gerard - Swinburne / Trouville - / Valparaiso - / Valparaiso Grey - Peter Brighton.' 1

The text is surrounded by sketches of six pictures: Purple and Rose: The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks [YMSM 047], Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room [YMSM 034], Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen [YMSM 060], possibly La Mère Gérard (1) [YMSM 026], and finally Blue and Silver: Blue Wave, Biarritz [YMSM 041]. There is also a sketch of Sir Henry ('King') Cole (1808-1882), civil servant and museum director [more] who died on 18 April 1882.

Sitter

Henry Cole (1808-1882) posed for two portraits, neither of which has survived, Portrait of Sir Henry Cole [YMSM 180] and Portrait of Sir Henry Cole [YMSM 233].

Sidney Starr (1857-1925) described Cole senior, whom he saw posing for his portrait, as 'a man with a ruddy face and a white stubby beard'. 2 However, although Cole posed in evening dress, as in the drawing, the hat was left out in the painting.