Study of a Monk

Study of a Monk from around 1830 by David Roberts is a figure study in oil on paper, likely made as preparation for a larger architectural composition. Roberts habitually included robed monastic figures in his church interior paintings to provide scale, establish religious atmosphere, and give human interest to architectural subjects. Such figure studies were working documents in his compositional process, made from observation or from costumed models during his European travels. Roberts's rise from Edinburgh scene-painting to membership of the Royal Academy was built on exactly this kind of dedicated preparatory practice. The work is held at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre. The loose oil-on-paper medium suggests speed of execution—a sketch made to capture the fall of fabric and posture of movement before the moment passed, to be incorporated later into a finished interior scene.

The figure study captures the monk's habit and posture with Roberts's precise descriptive technique, likely intended for incorporation into an architectural setting.