The Death of Alcestis
Pencil, pen and brown ink, with brown and grey ink wash. Inscribed (probably not by the artist). in pencil lower right '63'.
175 x 251 mm.
6 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches.
Provenance: Alfred de Pass (Lugt 108a); presented in 1928 to the Royal Institution of Cornwall (Truro Museum) (Lugt 2014e); their sale, Christie's, 22 February 1966 (probably part of lot 23), bought by Hodgkin.
Dalton-le-Furness 1734 ~ 1802 Kendal
The career of George Romney coincided with the single most dynamic period in the history of British art. Although he had come to London in 1762 intending to concentrate on history painting, from the 1770s he was recognised as the most fashionable portrait painter of his time. However, he also produced a vast number of poetical drawings of a passionate intensity few of which were ever translated into paintings. These drawings range from child-like pencil scribbles to strong, dramatic sheets executed in heavy brown or black wash. Their literary subjects include Shakespeare, Milton, Ovid and Aeschylus. In 1773, Romney had the chance to go to Rome where he devoted himself to the study of Raphael and other artists,who worked in the Italian 'Grand Manner', including Poussin. He would also have been influenced by classical sculpture and there are important links between his style and that of his contemporaries Fuseli, Flaxman and Blake. He fell under the spell of Fuseli while in Rome. This Roman journey transformed his drawing style into a much more classical approach, showing a greater control of line and less concern for describing volume and depth of field.
Our drawing , sheet '63' in the so-called 'Large Volume' presented to the Truro Museum by Alfred de Pass, is stylistically a very fine example of the classicizing influence of Rome. Our drawing shows Alcestis, wife of Admetus, King of Thera in Thessaly. At their wedding feast, Admetus forgot to sacrifice to Artemis and was therefore destined only to live a short time. Apollo intervened and persuaded the Fates to prolong the life of Admetus if someone else would die in his place. According to Euripides, only Alcestis was prepared to make this sacrifice. As a result, she was obliged to leave her children and sorrowing husband and go to Hades. Our drawing illustrates the moment of her departure.1 Further evidence of Romney's interest in this subject is provided by a letter from Robert Potter to Romney, dated 14 August, 1779. Later, Potter sent Romney a translation of the play, Alcestis, by Euripides.2
1. I am very grateful to Alex Kidson of The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, for identifying the subject of our drawing and bringing our attention to the article by Suzanne E. May, 'George Romney, Robert Potter and the Painter's Poet', Transactions of the Romney Society, vii, 2002, pp.1325.
2. Both the letter and the translation are in the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: George Romney, Letters and Correspondence, Special Collections 86.cc.32a. Potter¹s translation was later published in his The Tragedies of Euripides, London, 1781.
