Choir Practice

Date made: 1906

Description: Sepia wash drawing signed Edward Christian 1906, depicting a choir practise or meeting in a loft.

Very little was known about this charismatic drawing from the National Art Collection prior to it going on display for the first time in 2023. The scene and the artist remained a mystery despite our research. Music and choir practise was a regular pastime on the Isle of Man, and it was thought the meeting place in this drawing was likely a loft, school room or church hall. Those taking part being two violinists, one cellist and one string bass, while opposite a number of men and boys are singing.

Since being on display in the National Art Gallery at the Manx Museum, and thanks to the help of a member of the public, we have discovered that this drawing is not an original composition. It is in fact a copy of a much larger oil on canvas, 'The Village Philharmonic' (1888), by British artist Stanhope Alexander Forbes RA (18 November 1857 – 2 March 1947). The original is in Birmingham City Art Gallery and has been in their care since being purchased from the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1889. We still don’t know where the original scene was painted , although Forbes was living and working in Newlyn, Cornwall at the time, where he set up the famous Newlyn Art School. We don’t know how or why Edward Christian came to produce such an extraordinary likeness of the original, but it certainly shows that he had strong artistic talent. Perhaps he created it to practice and develop his own skills? Or perhaps he was trying to ‘pass it off’ as his own work? We will probably never know.

Measurements: h 58cm w 82.5cm

Materials: paper & stretched on frame : pen & sepia ink & wash

Object name: Drawing

Collection: Art Collection

ID number: 1957-0048

Subject tags : #artgallerypeople

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