Sigismunda.The original Picture in Oil by the late Mr. W.m Hogarth, and the Drawing from which this Print is made of the same size are both in the Collection of Mr. Sam.l Ireland, of Norfolk Street, who purchased them of Mrs. Hogarth in 1781. The Drawing wasmade by Mr. Edw.d Edwards, Assosiate of the Royal Academy & finsihed in April 1764 under the inspection of Mr. Hogarth, from whose pencil it received its last finishing touches about six months before his death. From this Drawing Mr. Basire the Engravr, began a Print but the death of Mr. Hogarth prevented its being finished.
Hogarth Pinx.t. Dunkarton Sculp.t.
London, Published Feb 1st 1793, by T.B. Freeman & Co. Strand, & Sold by Dickenson, New Bond Street, & Walker, Cornhill.
Mezzotint with large margins. Platemark: 395 x 375mm (15½ x 14¾").
An illustration of a dramatic scene from Giovanni Boccaccio’s celebrated medieval novel, 'The Decameron'. The heroine, Sigismunda, holds a goblet sent to her by her father, Prince Tancred. Inside, is the heart of her dead husband, Giuscardo, one of Tancred’s servants. He has murdered him, enraged by their unsuitable secret marriage. This was Hogarth’s most deliberate attempt to prove that modern English painters could handle heroic themes as convincingly as the revered Italian old masters. But the picture received such harsh criticism that he almost completely abandoned painting for the last years of his life. For an open letter proof impression, see item ref: 36640.
Ex collection of Christopher Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 36639] £450.00
London, Published Feb 1st 1793, by T.B. Freeman & Co. Strand, & Sold by Dickenson, New Bond Street, & Walker, Cornhill.
Mezzotint with large margins. Platemark: 395 x 375mm (15½ x 14¾").
An illustration of a dramatic scene from Giovanni Boccaccio’s celebrated medieval novel, 'The Decameron'. The heroine, Sigismunda, holds a goblet sent to her by her father, Prince Tancred. Inside, is the heart of her dead husband, Giuscardo, one of Tancred’s servants. He has murdered him, enraged by their unsuitable secret marriage. This was Hogarth’s most deliberate attempt to prove that modern English painters could handle heroic themes as convincingly as the revered Italian old masters. But the picture received such harsh criticism that he almost completely abandoned painting for the last years of his life. For an open letter proof impression, see item ref: 36640.
Ex collection of Christopher Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 36639] £450.00