Study of a Monk, representing Catholic Faith

Ford Madox Brown 

Date: 1848

Materials: Black chalk, with pen and ink

A new idea

This study was the result of an idea Brown had for a related composition during work on the larger Chaucer oil.

In his diary entry for 29th November 1847 he records how, as he travelled from Kent to London he "thought of a subject as I went along. Wycliffe reading his translation of the bible [sic] to John of Gaunt, Chaucer & Gower Present [sic] - arranged it in my mind"

The full painting was finished in 1848, and is now at Bradford Art Gallery and Museum. In the top corners of the picture, within an arched frame, Brown placed half-length figures symbolising Catholic and Protestant faith.

Brown's Diary 

His diary entry for 28 February 1848 records work on this figure:

"holding a chained-up bible and a torch, with a hood (like the penitents at catholic funerals) showing only the eyes, with burning faggots & a wheelof fortune for accessories".