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Christ and the Woman of Samaria

Miniature
1737 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Sarah Stanley (born Sloane, ca. 1709-1764) was the eldest daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, the seventeenth-century physician and collector whose large collection formed the basis of the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. Sloane travelled to Jamaica and eventually married Elizabeth Langley Rose, the heiress to a Jamaican plantation, in 1695. Their fortune from Jamaica funded Sloane’s collecting. Sarah would have grown up in Sloane’s home, which was filled with art, plants, gemstones, coins, antiquities, and other curiosities and gave her unparalleled access to works of art. She began copying works in Sloane’s collection as a teenager—including portraits by Rosalba Carriera and Hilliard’s Unknown Man Clasping A Hand From A Cloud, now in the collection of the V&A. Her style suggests Stanley may have taken further lessons with the miniature painter Bernard Lens. This miniature was copied after Ciro Ferri's Christ and the Woman of Samaria, or a version of it available to Stanley.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleChrist and the Woman of Samaria (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on vellum strained on oak panel
Brief description
Miniature, Christ and the Woman of Samaria, by Sarah Stanley (born Sloane) after Ciro Ferri, watercolour on vellum, 1737
Physical description
Miniature painting on vellum depicting Christ and the Woman of Samaria after Ciro Ferri or a copy
Dimensions
  • Height: 33.0cm
  • Width: 28.9cm
Taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO 1963
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'S. Stanley: 1737' (Signed and dated)
  • 'Ciro Ferri Pinxit S. Stanley Fecit Jan ye 26. 1737/8' (Inscribed at the back)
Object history
Part of lot 1307 on the fourth day's sale (13 July 1955) at Paultons, Hants, formerly the property of Major R. C. Hans Sloane Stanley, a descendant of the artist who was herself the elder daughter of Sir Hans Sloane Bt., and married George Stanley in 1719. The sale also included portraits, drawings, and needlework by Stanley, including possibly a copy after Hilliard's Man Clutching a Hand in the Clouds (P.21-1942), a version of which was in Sloane's possession.
Subjects depicted
Associations
Summary
Sarah Stanley (born Sloane, ca. 1709-1764) was the eldest daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, the seventeenth-century physician and collector whose large collection formed the basis of the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. Sloane travelled to Jamaica and eventually married Elizabeth Langley Rose, the heiress to a Jamaican plantation, in 1695. Their fortune from Jamaica funded Sloane’s collecting. Sarah would have grown up in Sloane’s home, which was filled with art, plants, gemstones, coins, antiquities, and other curiosities and gave her unparalleled access to works of art. She began copying works in Sloane’s collection as a teenager—including portraits by Rosalba Carriera and Hilliard’s Unknown Man Clasping A Hand From A Cloud, now in the collection of the V&A. Her style suggests Stanley may have taken further lessons with the miniature painter Bernard Lens. This miniature was copied after Ciro Ferri's Christ and the Woman of Samaria, or a version of it available to Stanley.
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1955-1956 London: HMSO, 1963
  • Kim Sloan, Amateur Artists and Drawing Masters c. 1600-1800, London: British Museum Publications, 1999
Collection
Accession number
P.55-1955

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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