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    300 years
    Return to "Wilson and Europe 2014 " is linked to these Works 122 items
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    Niobe

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    Niobe
    Niobe
    Niobe
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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    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.
    Collection
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here
    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
    WGC/1/1/22
    Condition/Conservation
    Plate dimensions: 495 x 660 mm (19 1/2 x 26 in.)

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Figure Study for Niobe, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Samuel Sharp after Wilson Niobe, The British Museum

    Prints

    • William Sharp and Samuel Smith Niobe, 1788, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
      • ]
    • William Sharp and Samuel Smith Niobe, 1803, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
      • 1078E79/1 Samuel Lacey after Wilson, Niobe, The British Museum
    • William James Linton after Wilson, Destruction of the Children of Niobe, The British Museum

    Versions

    • William Sharp (1749-1824) and Samuel Smith (1745-1810)after Wilson, Niobe, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

    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

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014

    Biographies

    • William Sharp (1749-1824)
    • Samuel Smith (1745-1808)
    • Paul Mellon (1907-1999)
    • Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Col. Maurice Harold Grant, 'Richard Wilson's Niobe'
    • Anon [Tancred Borenius], Richard Wilson's 'Niobe'
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