*De Morgan (Evelyn, 1855-1919). The Angel of Death, 1885, gold coloured pastel and black chalk on dark grey-brown wove paper, depicting a young woman seated on a rocky stepped plinth, her eyes half-closed, and her arms placed on the left arm of an angel who stoops over her and carries a scythe, monogrammed 'EP' and dated 1885 in gold lower right, 44.5 x 36.5cm (17.5 x 14.5ins), mounted, framed and glazed, with remains of old manuscript label on backboard 'The Angel of Death, Not for sale, De Morgan, 1 The Vale, Kings Rd, Chelsea' Evelyn and William De Morgan lived at 1 The Vale in Chelsea for 22 years. At that time a number of artists resided in close proximity in and around the area of The Vale: the De Morgans rented their house to Walter Sickert and his Chelsea Life School when they were on their travels abroad; James Whistler lived at 2 The Vale, which was subsequently occupied by Charles Ricketts who began the Vale Press there; on the same side of the Vale, close to the King's Road, was a chapel which was for a time the studio of sculptor Thomas Stirling Lee; and others who were not far away include Augustus John, Cecil Hunt, John Da Costa and Charles Maresco Pearce. Evelyn De Morgan painted two oils titled 'The Angel of Death'. One was executed in 1880, and exhibited in 1881 at the Grosvenor Gallery, London, and it is now in the De Morgan Foundation ('Evelyn De Morgan, oil paintings', DMF, plate 8). The other, dated 1890, was destroyed in 1991 when a fire raged through Bourlet's art storage unit in London where some of the De Morgan Foundation's art collection was held (plate 37). This remarkable study was executed, therefore, in the interim period between these two works, whilst the artist was as yet unmarried. It is one of a small number of works by the artist executed in gold on dark wove paper. Apart from one such study in Leighton House Museum ('Victoria Dolorosa'), almost all other known studies in gold pastel are held by the De Morgan Foundation, and none, to our knowledge, has ever before appeared at auction. Only a small number of artists used this technique, Edward Burne-Jones being one of them. It is generally believed that such works were final detailed compositional studies. Given that the artist was so prolific and meticulous in producing studies for her full-scale oils, it is perhaps not surprising that this view has come into existence. However, the De Morgan Foundation acknowledges that 'These pieces can be considered works of art in their own right and it is apparent that Evelyn often sold them as such'. Given this, and the fact that our study post-dates the initial oil of the same subject it now seems quite certain that such a work was done either for the artist's own pleasure (as seems to be the case here), or as a gift for, or commission from, an admirer of the oil painting. It is interesting to note that in the original oil the female figure gazes upwards with unseeing eyes which are clearly open, whereas here the young woman's gaze is downwards with her eyes half-closed, as it is in the later oil painting of 1890. The De Morgans were very interested in spiritualism, and especially angels, as evidenced in much of the symbolism of Evelyn's work. In her initial oil painting, the gentleness of the angel's touch, and grateful embrace of the frail girl is underlined by the weeds symbolising a hard life, and the spring flowers indicating joy to come. Here, however, as is typical of Evelyn's studies in gold, the background detail is pared away, and the figures, in all their beauty, come into stark relief.(1)
