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Preparatory study for A Circassian chief selling to a Turkish Pasha, Captives of a neighbouring tribe, taken in war ; Study of two Turkish captors grasping a captive’s wrist

Artist: Allan, William, Sir, RSA, PPRSA · 1782-1850

Preparatory study for A Circassian chief selling to a Turkish Pasha, Captives of a neighbouring tribe, taken in war ; Study of two Turkish captors grasping a captive’s wrist

One of 27 drawings (one being a leaf with sketches both recto and verso) pasted into an album and one of 18 of these which can be directly linked to…

One of 27 drawings (one being a leaf with sketches both recto and verso) pasted into an album and one of 18 of these which can be directly linked to figures or details in Allan’s oil Painting of 1815, A Circassian chief selling to a Turkish Pasha, Captives of a neighbouring tribe, taken in war, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy Annual Exhibition in 1816 (cat. 235). The finished picture was subsequently one of two prizes offered in a lottery set up by Sir Walter Scott and his son-in-law and future biographer, John Gibson Lockhart to assist Allan’s financial difficulties. 100 subscribers each paid ten guineas and the Circassian Captives painting was won by the Earl of Wemyss in whose collection it has remained by descent.

The painting is illustrated in colour, contextualised and discussed in detail in the exhibition catalogue by Jeremy Howard (et al.) William Allan Artist Adventurer, City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries, 2001.

The painting was reproduced as an engraving by John Burnet HRSA (1784-1868) an impression of which in the BM is illus (b&w) fig 6, page 11, in Howard (op cit.).

Vide also RSA collection 1996.085 for an etching and engraving by James Stewart co-published by Stewart and Allan at Edinburgh 1 July 1820 (BM also hold an impression of this print ref 1893, 0516.107)