The Social Economics of Artistic Labour: A Technical Case Study of Henry Monro’s Disgrace of Wolsey (1814)

• Published in: British art studies no. 16
• Main Authors: Cooper, Anna, Myrone, Martin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art 01.06.2020; Yale University
• Subjects: 19th century; Art history; Art techniques; British culture; Economics; Monro, Henry (1791-1814); Production methods; Sociology
• ISSN: 2058-5462; 2058-5462
• DOI: 10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-16/coopermyrone

This essay explores the material production of a single work of art, The Disgrace of Wolsey by Henry Monro (1791–1814), in the collection of Tate, in order to provide an historical perspective on the issues of artistic labour and art-educational access, which have been at the fore of contemporary cultural debates. It combines art history, sociology, and technical analysis to provide a case study in the social economics of artistic labour. Although he died young, Monro has a well-established biography and many of his works and associated documentation have been preserved. Most remarkably, there is a detailed work diary, which provides, among other things, a daily record of the production of The Disgrace of Wolsey. From this diary, we can deduce with some precision the people and materials, the time and the locations involved in the making of this painting. In its level of chronological detail, the work diary provides an exceptional insight into the working methods of a young artist in the early nineteenth century. The essay considers the social and economic factors involved, and provides a detailed commentary checking the textual record of the diary against the physical evidence of the painting itself. Technical analysis including X-radiograph, cross-sections, and surface examination are compared to technical painting treatises of the period. The essay concentrates on the compositional areas worked each day, recording a chronological account of activities. It gives insight into how the composition was built, developed, revisited, and adjusted, and suggests some of the wider lessons to be drawn from this unique documentary record about the practice of art in the early nineteenth century