Niobe

Niobe
Niobe
Niobe
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
John Charles Varrall (1795-1855) after Wilson
Title
Niobe
Date
1836 (undated)
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Metric: 212 x 272 mm (sheet size)
Imperial: 8 3/8 x 10 3/4 in. (sheet size)
Accession Number
1861,1214.4
Wilson Online Reference
E79/3
Description
Niobe is kneeling in a clearing below rocks in an overcast landscape, her arm around her youngest daughter, looking up and defying Latona. Latona sits in clouds upper left, watching her son Apollo avenge her for the Theban Queen's boast that she was richer in her fourteen children than the goddess in her two. Apollo draws his bow to strike down another of the children, eight of whom are grouped near their mother, dead, grieving and dying, while a ninth tries, in vain, to flee on horseback across a bridge to left.
Provenance
Purchased from Willis & Sotheran, The Piazza, Covent Garden, London, 1861
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image with the title, 'From the Original Painting by Richard Wilson in' The National Gallery.' | 'No. 1'; production detail: 'Engraved by J.C. Varrall' and publication line: Jones & Co. Temple of the Muses, Finsbury Square, London.
Related Drawings
D355 Figure Study for Niobe, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Related Prints
E52 William Sharp and Samuel Smith after Wilson, Niobe, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
E54 William Sharp and Samuel Smith after Wilson, Niobe, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
E79/1 Samuel Lacey after Wilson, Niobe, The British Museum
E86 William James Linton after Wilson, Destruction of the Children of Niobe, The British Museum
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Paintings
P90B The Destruction of Niobe's Children, ex-National Gallery and other versions
Critical commentary
This print is after P90B The Destruction of Niobe's Children, ex-National Gallery; destroyed 1944. It forms part of a series illustrating the collection of the National Gallery, London published in a catalogue by Jones & Co in 1836.
Bibliography
Anon: The National Gallery of Pictures by the Great Masters, presented by Individuals or purchased by Grant of Parliament, 1836, vol. 1, no. 1.