The Secret
1815
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1815
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Secret is a 1815 by Hablot Knight 'Phiz' Browne, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This sketch shows three people sitting close together in a dim room. The lines are loose and quick, like someone scribbled fast to get the shapes right. One person’s arm rests on another’s shoulder, and the third person is turned slightly away, holding something small in their lap. The drawing feels more like a rough note than a finished picture—just enough to recognize the scene. The artist might have been testing ideas for a bigger work. Check out cross-hatching to see how artists build shadows with layers of lines.
![Mother and Child [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/92db105a7bab38aa/thumb.webp)
![Study of a Mother and Child [verso]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/91f999f529326586/thumb.webp)
