Niobe

Niobe
Niobe
Niobe
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
William Sharp (1749-1824) and Samuel Smith (1745-1810) after Wilson
Title
Niobe
Date
Published 31 May 1792
Medium
Line engraving and etching on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: Sheet: 502 x 664 mm
Imperial: Sheet: 19 3/4 x 26 1/8 in.
Accession Number
B1977.14.14569
Wilson Online Reference
E54
Description
Eleven of Niobe's children are killed in a stormy setting, whose horror is emphasised by trees broken or bent with the wind, lightning, tumultuous seas and a lurid sky.
Exhibited
Tercentenary 2014 (111)
Provenance
Acquired 1977
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image with arms of Sir George Beaumont and motto: ERECTUS NON ELATUS;
[1] Upper left: ''The Figures Engraved by Willm. Sharp.'
[2] Upper centre: NIOBE
[3] Upper right: 'The Landscape by Saml. Smith.'
[4] Centre: 'From the FIRST PICTURE on that Subject Painted by RICHARD WILSON ESQ. R.A. | In the Collection of Sir George Beaumont Bart. To whom this Plate is respectfully Dedicated by his obliged humble Servant Samuel Smith.
[5] Lower centre, publication line: London Published as the Act directs by S.Smith, No.58 Castle street east Oxford-street May 31, 1792.'
Verso inscriptions
[1] Lower right, graphite: '(IR74/654)'
Related Drawings
D355 Study for Figure for Niobe, National Museum Wales, Cardiff (NMW A 1885)
NWD400 Samuel Sharp after Wilson Niobe, The British Museum
Related Prints
E52 William Sharp and Samuel Smith Niobe, 1788, National Museum Wales, Cardiff and other impressions
E58 William Sharp and Samuel Smith Niobe, 1803, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (1577/3)
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 (destroyed)
P90D Studio of Wilson, Apollo destroying the Children of Niobe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
P90E The Destruction of Niobe's Children, Collection of Richard L. Feigen & Co
Critical commentary
Despite the assertion in the inscription that Sir George Beaumont's painting (destroyed in 1944) was the first version of the subject it is now generally accepted that the earliest version was P90A The Destruction of the Children of Niobe, Private Collection at Ashridge, England, commissioned in Rome by the Duke of Bridgewater in 1754-55. As noted by Robin Simon, the present engraving shows that Beaumont's lost picture contained none of the figures repainted or introduced by Placido Costanzi in the Bridgewater version although like the version at Yale (P90) it repeated some of those figures by Wilson that remained in the Bridgewater painting, including the recumbent male in the centre.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 40392
Bibliography
W.S Baker, William Sharp, Engraver, with a descriptive Catalogue of his Works, Philadelphia 1975, p. 83, no. 113 (3); Borenius 1944; Grant 1945; WGC, p. 160, under pl. 18; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 291
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Condition/Conservation
Plate dimensions: 495 x 660 mm (19 1/2 x 26 in.)