Study for "Come Rest in this Bosom my own Stricken Dear"

Augustus Leopold Egg's study for "Come Rest in this Bosom my own Stricken Dear" relates to a painting inspired by Thomas Moore's popular Irish Melodies, which provided subject matter for numerous Victorian painters. Egg, a friend of Charles Dickens and member of The Clique, produced literary and historical paintings that appealed to the narrative sensibilities of mid-Victorian audiences. His oil sketches reveal a more spontaneous, painterly side than his finished exhibition works.

The oil-on-board study demonstrates Egg's fluid preparatory technique with loose, expressive brushwork that contrasts with the careful finish of his exhibition paintings. The warm palette and sketch-like handling capture the emotional essence of the literary subject.