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    Meleager and Atalanta

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    Meleager and Atalanta
    Meleager and Atalanta
    Meleager and Atalanta
    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
    2019-10-03 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • Richard Earlom after Wilson, Meleager and Atalanta
    • William Woollett & Benjamin Pouncy after Wilson, Meleager and Atalanta
    • William Woollett & Benjamin Pouncy after Wilson, Meleager and Atalanta

    Paintings

    • P163 Meleager and Atalanta

    Exhibitions

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

    Biographies

    • Joseph Farington (1747-1821)
    • John Hamilton Mortimer (1740-1779)

    Documents

    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Robin Simon, 'Richard Wilson's Meleager and Atalanta'
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