Oil painting entitled 'Reclining Figure' by Francis Wollaston Moody. Made in Great Britain, about 1850-1882.

Grisaille oil painting entitled 'Reclining Figure' showing a nude female reclining with two smaller nude figures

Commissioned for the decoration of the South Kensington Museum

Historical significance: Francis Wollaston Moody (1824-1886) was employed at the South Kensington Museum, having joined the Department of Science and Art in 1863. He was one of Godfrey Sykes's assistants, helping to carry out the decoration of the Museum and heading a team of student workers until his resignation in 1882. Moody was also Instructor in Decorative Art at the National Art Training School at South Kensington. From 1880 to 1883 he was an occasional lecturer at the School.

This is one of a series of ten decorative paintings designed by Moody and probably executed by students at the National Art Training Schools. All are painted in grisaille, a method by which shades of grey oil paint are used to create a monochrome composition, a technique which creates the illusion of sculptural form. All ten paintings suggest classical themes. The figures represented are either nude, or dressed in classical draperies.

It seems that these paintings once formed part of the museum's original decoration, possibly in rooms 100 to 101, the National Competition Gallery, although this is not certain. A note on the file suggests that they were taken down and put into store around 1948.

P.81-1968