Narcissus

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Narcissus

Private Collection

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Artist

Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)

Title

Narcissus

Date

c.1752 (undated)

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Metric: 48.3 x 62.9 cm [unseen]
Imperial: 19 x 24 3/4 in. [unseen]

Collection

Location Unknown

Wilson Online Reference

P40

Description

Before a woodland setting a nude male figure lies by a pool tenderly contemplating his own reflection

Provenance

Painted for Ralph Howard, Viscount Wicklow from 1785; Earls of Wicklow; sold with contents of Shelton Abbey, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, Sotheby's London, 23 October 1950 (1644 - Landscape with male figures [sic] reclining in the foreground); Fr D.J. Lucey; Sotheby's, 1 Dec 1954 (142), bt Burfitt

Subject

In classical mythology, Narcissus was a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who was known for his beauty. On seeing his own reflection in a pool he fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image and, captivated, stared at it until he died.

Critical commentary

One of Wilson's two and only nudes as such (see also P41). His main influence was Titian but the pose of the figure has been suggested as deriving from Pompeo Batoni's much-copied Saint Mary Magdalene (c.1740-42, destroyed). In Wilson's day this was in the Palazzo Merenda, Forli before passing to Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland by 1754.

Bibliography

Ford May 1951, p. 166, fig. 20; WGC, pl. 16a; Clark & Bowron 1985, p. 255 under cat.165; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 58, fig. 49; E.P. Bowron, Pompeo Batoni: A complete Catalogue of his Paintings, 2016, vol. 1, pp. 57 & 179

Link to WG Constable Archive Record

WGC/1/1/19

Updated by Compiler

30/04/2020

Narcissus

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