Wendy Baron records two drawings of a model seated on a couch set nearly parallel to the picture plane, which relate to SIckert's Venetian painting Study in Rose. These are La domenica della santa, also known as Sunday must be kept Holy and the present drawing, La Santa - Venezia.

Drawn at the time of Sickert's seminal visit to Venice in 1903-04, the setting and subject matter may be compared to his painting Study in Rose. The same woman, possibly La Carolina, is shown seated on the same chaise longue, wears her hair in a similar style and has a comparable posture.

The most striking difference between the drawing and painting is the clothing. In the drawing the woman sits demurely in her finest attire in marked contrast to the less restrained painting in which the woman is draped in a shawl that reveals her breasts, belly and bare feet. This difference is matched by Sickert's method of depicting the subject. In the drawing, just as the woman is dressed up in clothes that are not her natural garb, so Sickert uses a style that is also unusually elegant. This is far removed from the robust style of the more louche painting, in which elegant attire is replaced by a shawl. An explanation for this change is provided by Sickert, whose inscription on the drawing states La Santa - Venezia. In the drawing, then, the woman is dressed up in honour of the Saint's day, whilst in the related painting her profession as a prostitute may be inferred by her comparative undress.


With thanks to Wendy Baron for her information on this drawing and its relationship to Study in Rose and for her proposals as to the identity of the sitter.