| Method | Copper engraving with hand colouring |
| Artist | Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein |
| Published | Published by M.W. Tischbein, Director of the Royal Academy of Painting at Naples MDCCLXXXXI. [1791] |
| Dimensions | Image 174 x 258 mm, Plate 194 x 278, Sheet 506 x 384 mm |
| Notes |
A depiction of a red-figure vase decoration of a seated Greek woman and two female attendants, Plate 10 from Volume 1 of the Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases, Mostly of Pure Greek Workmanship, discovered in Sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The woman, at centre, sits on a low, splay-legged chair, winding thread in her hands from one tapered vase to another. Behind her, a cloaked attendant carries a mirror, while her companion bunches up the sleeves of her chiton, holding a fold of the cloth in her mouth. Hamilton, in his comments on the vase, equates the seated woman with Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, at work on the thread with which she constantly weaves and unpicks the burial shroud of Laertes. Her handmaidens carry away the mirror she has just used to ready herself for the day, and carry forth the cloth that will be her day's task. Above her, the fillet hanging on the wall indicates that the scene takes place within Penelope's private chambers. Hamilton remarks that the vase that this scene derives from had a profound effect on the artist Angelica Kauffman that 'she painted a most pleasing picture of it,' which she presented to Hamilton himself. The Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases, Mostly of Pure Greek Workmanship, discovered in Sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but chiefly in the neighbourhood of Naples during the course of the years MDCCLXXXIX and MDCCLXXXX, now in the Possession of Sir Wm. Hamilton, His Britannic Majestaty's Envoy Extry. and Plenipotentiary at the court of Naples, with Remarks on each Vase by the Collector was put together by Tischbein to document the second, and equally significant, vase collection of Sir William Hamilton. Following the sale of his first collection to the British Museum, Hamilton began assembling another selection of ancient vases, spurred on, as he describes in the introduction to this second work, by the recent and increasing taste for classical vase painting in Britain, and aided by the removal by King Ferdinand IV of Naples of the ban on archaeological excavation in the region. Unlike the sumptuously illustrated publication of Hamilton's first collection, the collector's aim for this second publication was for a much wider readership. In particular, Hamilton was keen that the work be accessible to artists, as the prohibitive costs of the first set of volumes had meant that in most circumstances they were available only to wealthy connoisseurs, antiquarians, and learned societies. This was not to say that any expense had been spared in the second book's preparation. Tischbein's engravings were praised by Hamilton for their precision and accuracy, and the accompanying text, provided by Hamilton himself, was thoroughly and meticulously assembled. The greatest difference lay in the fact that the plates of this second work were left uncoloured at publication, with Hamilton noting that it was his hope that in so doing, artists could gain a much stronger impression of the use of line by the ancient vase-painters, while connoisseurs, if they so desired, could have the plates coloured in the style of his earlier book. The resulting publication stretched to 4 volumes, plus a supplement, all of which were heavily illustrated. Academically, this second book also improved upon antiquarian understanding and interpretation of classical vases. Where the first work had ascribed much of Hamilton's collection to the Etruscans, this second book brought Hamilton's collections up to date with current scholarship, with Hamilton himself accepting in the preface that the majority of his Southern Italian vases were without doubt the product of Greek workmanship. The plates themselves proved to be of particular importance some seven years later. In 1798, with the shadow of Napoleon and the French revolutionary army looming large in Bourbon Naples, Hamilton packed up his vase collection in order to return to England. Unfortunately, the ship detailed to transport his collection, the HMS Colossus, was wrecked off the Isles of Scilly, taking eight crates of Hamilton's vases down with it. Until the rediscovery of the wreck in the 1960's, Tischbein's plates were the only record of some of Hamilton's prize pieces. Upon arrival in England, the remainder of Hamilton's collection was destined for auction at Christies, but was sold instead to the flamboyant connoisseur, orientalist, and interior decorator, Thomas Hope. Ironically, Hope stored his newly aquired Greek vases in a purpose designed 'Etruscan Room,' where they remained until their sale at Christies in 1917. As a result, examples from Hamilton's second collection can now be seen in many of the world's museums, including the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam, the Louvre, the Met, and the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (15th February 1751 - 26th February 1828) was a German painter, engraver, publisher and art historian. A member of the large Tischbein family of artists, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm is often known as the 'Goethe' Tischbein, after his famous portrait of Goethe in the Roman Campana, painted while the artist was travelling with the famous writer on the latter's tour to Naples in 1787. Following this tour, Tischbein remained in Italy, serving as Master of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli. In this capacity, he worked alongside Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to the Kingdom of Naples, to produce a catalogue of masterpieces from Hamilton's second collection of classical vases. The resulting work was published in five volumes between 1791 and 1795. Hamilton hailed Tischbein in the book's preface as 'an Artist of the First Class.' He left Naples in 1799, at the establishment of the anti-royalist Parthenopean Republic, and for the rest of his life remained in the service of Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg. Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) was a British diplomat, antiquarian, connoisseur, and pioneering vulcanologist, who served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples between 1764 and 1800. While in Naples, Hamilton amassed two large and impressive collections of classical vases, the majority of which came from the excavations of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the other ancient towns surrounding Mount Vesuvius. In addition to his antiquarian interests, Hamilton was also elected to the Royal Society for his studies of volcanic activity in Sicily and the Campi Phlegraei. Despite frequently being lampooned as a cognoscento by contemporary satirists like Gillray, Hamilton did not consider himself to be an antiquarian, even going so far as to lampoon the latter himself, by teaching his pet monkey to carry a magnifying glass in the manner of a connoisseur. Despite his achievements in archaeology, art history, and natural history, Hamilton is best known as a cuckold, his second-wife, Lady Emma Hamilton, having embarked on an infamous affair with Nelson. Condition: Excellent crisp impression on full sheet. Minor time-toning to sheet. Minor surface abrasions to black ground of image. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £250.00 |
| Stock ID | 43458 |