The Destruction of the Children of Niobe

Artists/Creators: William Woollett (Artist)
Richard Wilson (After)
Date: 1761
ID #: BG845

Physical Description

Medium: ink
Support: paper
Dimensions
Object Description: This etching of the 1760 oil painting by Richard Wilson established William Woollett as the most capable landscape engraver in England at the time. The work takes its subject matter from the Greek myth of Niobe, as described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Niobe and her husband Amphion had 14 children, seven sons and seven daughters. In a moment of arrogance, Niobe boasted about her many offspring at a ceremony to honour the goddess Leto, mocking Leto who had only two children, Apollo and Artemis. To avenge their mother’s honour, Apollo and Artemis slaughtered all of Niobe’s children with bows and arrows. The etching shows Niobe weeping for her dying children in the foreground, with Apollo in the upper left with arrow in hand. In some versions of the story, Niobe was turned to stone at Mount Sipylus in Turkey.

History

Collection
Credit Line: Art Instructor's Collection
Related Exhibitions: Becoming Animal/Becoming Landscape: Works from the Collection and Joan Balzar

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