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Apollo Destroying the Children of Niobe
Richard Wilson (British, 1714–1782)
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
127.0 x 178.1 cm (50 x 70 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Denman Waldo Ross Collection
Accession Number17.586
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Wilson made many drawings in Rome and Naples between 1750 and 1757 that later served as backgrounds for his mythological and history paintings. The subject is taken from the Roman poet Ovid's popular Metamorphoses. Niobe boasted unduly of her parentage, marriage, and fourteen children. The offended goddess Latona sent her own son and daughter, Apollo and Diana, to punish Niobe by slaying her children. Apollo, with Diana behind him, is shooting the children with arrows from the cloud at the left. Wilson, typically, conveys the drama through the landscape, rather than through the figures.
Provenance18th century, painted for Peter Leicester, 4th Bt. (b. 1732 - d. 1770), Tabley House, Cheshire; by inheritance to his son, John Leicester (b. 1762 - d. 1827), Tabley House. 1802, with Henry Parke, London. 1804, sold by Thomas Lister Parker (b. 1779 - d. 1858), Browsolme Hall, Yorkshire, to Charles Francis Greville (b. 1749 - d. 1809), Paddington Green [see note 1]; March 31, 1810, posthumous Greville sale, Christie's, London, lot 99, to John Robert Fullerton Udny (b. 1779 - d. 1861), Newburgh, Scotland [see note 2]. Between 1828 and 1831, possibly on the London art market [see note 3]. By 1832, Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (b. 1797 - d. 1864), Novar House, Scotland; March 26, 1860, Munro sale, Christie's, London, lot 145, to Wallis [see note 4]. 1895, James Orrock (b. 1829 - d. 1913), Shepperton, England; April 25, 1895, Orrock sale, Christie's, London, lot 321 unsold; June 4, 1904, Orrock sale, Christie's, London, lot 144, to Samuel Theobald Smith (dealer), London. 1905, Blakeslee Galleries, New York; April 6-7,1905, Blakeslee sale, American Art Association, New York, lot 123, to W. Peabody. Denman Waldo Ross (b. 1853 - d. 1935), Cambridge, MA; 1917, gift of Denman Waldo Ross to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 15, 1917)
NOTES:
[1] This is one of five known versions of the subject painted by Wilson. The MFA painting has been identified as coming from the collection of Charles Francis Greville. In 1802, Joseph Farington recorded seeing "a Niobe by Wilson, painted for Sir Peter Leicester" with Mr. Parke of Dean Street, London. In 1804, he wrote that Charles Greville wished to buy the Leicester painting from Thomas Lister Parker, who was John Leicester's cousin and friend. The sale was ultimately effected by James Northcote. See Douglas Hall, "The Tabley House Papers," Volume of the Walpole Society 38 (1960-1962): p. 85 and Joseph Farington, The Farington Diary (New York, 1924), vol. 1, p. 340 and vol. 3, p. 10.
[2] No dimensions are given in the Greville auction catalogue. A note in the Getty Provenance Index online states that the Greville painting was recorded in one catalogue as measuring 3 x 3 1/2 feet, which is much smaller than the MFA picture; however, whether this was an accurate measurement or just a sight estimate is unknown. Udny lent the painting to the British Institution in 1817.
[3] A painting by Wilson said to be "the original" painted for Peter Leicester appeared in several auctions and exhibitions in London between 1828 and 1831 (William Buchanan sales, held May 1828, June 1828, February 1830, and John Annis et al. sale, June 1831; exhibited in London 1828, 1830). The dimensions of that painting, however, are recorded as 4' 4" x 3' 3", whereas the MFA painting is about 4' 2" x by 5' 10".
[4] Munro owned two paintings by Wilson of this subject. A small version, measuring 24 x 29 1/2 in., remained in his collection until his death. The present version is probably the painting that Munro lent to the British Institution in 1832.
NOTES:
[1] This is one of five known versions of the subject painted by Wilson. The MFA painting has been identified as coming from the collection of Charles Francis Greville. In 1802, Joseph Farington recorded seeing "a Niobe by Wilson, painted for Sir Peter Leicester" with Mr. Parke of Dean Street, London. In 1804, he wrote that Charles Greville wished to buy the Leicester painting from Thomas Lister Parker, who was John Leicester's cousin and friend. The sale was ultimately effected by James Northcote. See Douglas Hall, "The Tabley House Papers," Volume of the Walpole Society 38 (1960-1962): p. 85 and Joseph Farington, The Farington Diary (New York, 1924), vol. 1, p. 340 and vol. 3, p. 10.
[2] No dimensions are given in the Greville auction catalogue. A note in the Getty Provenance Index online states that the Greville painting was recorded in one catalogue as measuring 3 x 3 1/2 feet, which is much smaller than the MFA picture; however, whether this was an accurate measurement or just a sight estimate is unknown. Udny lent the painting to the British Institution in 1817.
[3] A painting by Wilson said to be "the original" painted for Peter Leicester appeared in several auctions and exhibitions in London between 1828 and 1831 (William Buchanan sales, held May 1828, June 1828, February 1830, and John Annis et al. sale, June 1831; exhibited in London 1828, 1830). The dimensions of that painting, however, are recorded as 4' 4" x 3' 3", whereas the MFA painting is about 4' 2" x by 5' 10".
[4] Munro owned two paintings by Wilson of this subject. A small version, measuring 24 x 29 1/2 in., remained in his collection until his death. The present version is probably the painting that Munro lent to the British Institution in 1832.