The Sleeping Model

The Sleeping Model is an oil on canvas genre painting by the British artist William Powell Frith, from 1853.^[1]

The Sleeping Model
Artist	William Powell Frith
Year	1853
Type	Oil on canvas, genre painting
Dimensions	63.2 cm × 72.8 cm (24.9 in × 28.7 in)
Location	Royal Academy of Arts, London

History and description

It shows a scene in the artist's own studio as he tries to paint a model who has fallen asleep in her chair. It features a self-portrait of himself as he doggedly continues to paint the young woman, an orange seller, smiling and awake. Frith had a great deal of trouble persuading the woman who he encountered in the street to pose for him, partly due to the fact that she was a Catholic. Having eventually coaxed her to sit, she then fell asleep while he was working.^[2] The incident led Frith to produce this work inspired by the incident.^[3] When Frith was elected to be a full member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1853 he presented this as his diploma work. It remains in the collection of the Royal Academy today.^[4]