Portrait of Mary Hardy (Sulman)

On the back of the wooden panel it says “Mary Sulman painted by a fellow student at the Slade School”.

Students entering the Slade began by drawing from the Antique in the cast room until judged competent to progress to the life room. Life drawing was the most important component of the Slade curriculum. Models sat in the life room every day and the students spent the majority of their time drawing from life and draped models, progressing to painting from the model when judged sufficiently advanced. Composition subjects were set by the Slade Professor once a month and there were lectures on anatomy and perspective.

Outside the formal classes, students were also encouraged to study the Old Masters at the National Gallery and British Museum and to contribute to the monthly ‘Sketch Club’ for which composition titles were set. Each year, prizes were awarded for figure composition painting (the Summer Composition Competition), figure painting, head painting, figure drawing, antique drawing, sculpture and fine-art anatomy.