Meleager and Atalanta

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Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library

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Artist

Ascribed to John Hamilton Mortimer (1740-1779) after Wilson

Title

Meleager and Atalanta

Date

c. 1770

Medium

Pen and ink with wash on French blue-rag paper

Dimensions

Metric: 330 x 248 mm
Imperial: 13 x 9 3/4 in.

Collection

Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

Accession Number

1947.74

Wilson Online Reference

NWD406

Description

In a stormy landscape Meleager, on horseback, attacks the huge boar sent by the goddess Diana to devastate the countryside of Calydon. Three of his colleagues beset it with spears while a fourth lies wounded on the left. The dramatic lighting, rocky landscape, bending willow and turbulent cascade echo the violent subject-matter and complete the sublimity of the scene.

Exhibited

Tercentenary 2014 (109)

Provenance

Acquired by Bolton Museum, 1947

Signature/inscription

Unsigned; no inscription

Techniques and materials

Pen with black and brown ink, brush-washed in brown, grey and blue, and heightened with white chalk

Subject

The subject is taken from the Roman poet, Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC - AD 17/18) known as Ovid. The lovers Meleager and Atalanta killed a huge boar sent by the goddess Diana to devastate the countryside of Calydon. Meleager presented the hide to Atalanta but his uncles, the sons of Thestius, took it from her, whereupon he killed them, leading to his own death (Metamorphoses Book VIII, lines 260-546).

Related Prints

E23 Richard Earlom after Wilson, Meleager and Atalanta, 1771, and other impressions
E46 William Woollett & Benjamin Pouncy after Wilson, Meleager and Atalanta, 1779, and other impressions
E55 William Woollett & Benjamin Pouncy after Wilson, Meleager and Atalanta, 1794, and other impressions

Related Paintings

P163 Meleager and Atalanta

Critical commentary

The drawing has been attributed to Joseph Farington but seem more likely to be by Mortimer himself, made as a record of his alterations to part of P163 Meleager and Atalanta. Robin Simon has noted that Mortimer repainted some but not all of the figures in the picture. The horse in the painting, for example, is Wilson's, based on the Antique horse that, although unconnected to the rest of the group, could then be seen among the Niobe sculptures at the Villa Medici, Rome.

Bibliography

Simon 1981, fig. 30; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 289

More Information

Acquired by Bolton Museum in 1947 as The Boar Hunt by Leonardo da Vinci (!) and entered as such in Mere Hall register (Mere Hall was Bolton's first public art gallery). Reattributed first to the early Italian School, then (1976) to the French C18 School, and finally by Robin Simon to a pupil of Wilson - most likely to be John Hamilton Mortimer. (Information kindly supplied by Matthew Watson).

Updated by Compiler

03/10/2019

Meleager and Atalanta

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