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    300 years
    Return to "Sharp " is linked to these Works 5 items
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    Niobe

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    Niobe
    Niobe
    Niobe
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff
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    Artist
    William Sharp (1749-1824) and Samuel Smith (1745-1810) after Wilson
    Title
    Niobe
    Date
    Published March 1788
    Medium
    Etching and engraving
    Dimensions
    Metric: 515 x 693 mm
    Imperial: 20 1/4 x 27 1/4 in.
    Collection
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    NMW A 11416
    Wilson Online Reference
    E52
    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.
    Provenance
    Purchased from from Isaac John Williams, 1917
    Signature/inscription
    Scratched below the image:
    [1] Upper left: Painted by Rd. Wilson
    [2] Upper centre: The figures by W. Sharp
    [3] Upper right: Etched by S. Smith March 1788
    [4] Centre: Arms of Sir George Beaumont [lacking motto]
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Pencil upper left: 17a [?]
    [2] Pencil lower right: 17a [?]
    Mount inscriptions
    [1] Recto lower centre, pencil: Arms of Beaumont + ______
    Subject
    The subject derives from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 6, lines 144-312. Niobe, daughter of Tantalus and Queen of Thebes, is punished for having dared to suggest, because she had seven sons and seven daughters, that she was superior to the goddess Leto (or Latona). Apollo and Artemis, children of Leto, killed all of Niobe's offspring in revenge and she herself wept until she was turned into stone.
    Related Drawings
    D355 Recumbent Male Nude, National Museum Wales, Cardiff (NMW A 1885)
    NWD400 Samuel Sharp after Wilson Niobe, The British Museum
    Related Prints
    E54 William Sharp and Samuel Smith after Wilson, Niobe , 1792, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA (B1977.14.14569) and other impressions
    E58 William Sharp and Samuel Smith Niobe, 1803, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (1577/3) and other impressions
    E79/1 Samuel Lacey after Wilson, Niobe, c. 1836, 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 1944
    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
    William Sharp was responsible for the figures. The arms of Sir George Beaumont in the dedication indicate that the print was executed after P90B rather than any other version of the subject.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Old Accession Number: 17.111
    1917.2 Purchase
    Bibliography
    W.S Baker, William Sharp, Engraver, with a descriptive Catalogue of his Works, Philadelphia 1975, 82, no. 113 (1)
    Condition/Conservation
    A good impression. Some staining especially at upper centre. Repaired vertical tear lower right and horizontal at centre of left edge. The lower edge is trimmed to the platemark.

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Recumbent Male Nude, National Museum Wales, Cardiff (NMW A 1885)
    • Samuel Sharp after Wilson Niobe, The British Museum

    Prints

    • William Sharp and Samuel Smith after Wilson, Niobe, 1792, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • William Sharp and Samuel Smith after Wilson, Niobe, 1803, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (1577/3) and other impressions
    • Samuel Lacey after Wilson, Niobe, The British Museum
    • William James Linton after Wilson, Destruction of the Children of Niobe, The British Museum

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Destruction of Niobe's Children, Ex-National Gallery (destroyed)
    • Studio of Wilson, Apollo destroying the Children of Niobe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Destruction of Niobe's Children, Collection of Richard L. Feigen & Co

    Biographies

    • William Sharp (1749-1824)
    • Samuel Smith (1745-1808)
    • Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827)
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