OBJECT FILE
Man Proposes, God Disposes
FOLLOWPicture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom
THE OBJECT
Oil on canvas by Sir Edwin Landseer, 1864, showing two polar bears tearing at the remains of Sir John Franklin's lost 1845 Arctic expedition. Bought by Thomas Holloway in 1881 for the college he was founding; it hangs in the Picture Gallery at Royal Holloway, which uses the room for examinations.
REPORTED ACTIVITY
College legend, current since at least the 1970s, holds that a student who sat beneath it went mad and died during an exam, and that anyone who looks at it while sitting one will fail. The painting is covered with a Union flag whenever the gallery is used for exams. The college treats the story as folklore; the covering is real.
WHERE IT IS NOW
On public display — kept by Royal Holloway, University of London (acc. no. THC 0032). Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom.
PROVENANCE · 1 ENTRY
TRACE ON THE MAP →1881 — CURRENT LOCATION
Royal Holloway, University of London (Thomas Holloway's purchase)
Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom
Painted 1864 and exhibited at the Royal Academy that year; owners between 1864 and 1881 are not given in the sources used.
Source: Royal Holloway art collections highlight page: 'Purchased by Thomas Holloway, 1881; acc. no. THC 0032'
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS · 0
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