Edwin from James Beattie's 'The Minstrel' (1771/4)
Richard Westall, RA (Reepham 1765 - London 1836)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1798 (exh at RA) - 1806 (exh at RA)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1143 x 1422 mm (45 x 56 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 485038
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Edwin from James Beattie's 'The Minstrel' by Richard Westall RA (Hertford 1765 - London 1836), 1798-1799. A youth reclined on a rock, turned to the left, gazing to the right dressed in a white shirt and shorts, with bare legs and feet, looking upward with a rock and a torrent in the background on the right. James Beattie (1735-1803), Scottish poet, published anonymously the first book of The Minstrel, in 1771 and the second book in 1774 and was nortorious for the line: "And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy", under which this picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798 and/or 1802.
Provenance
Bought by George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837), 4 July 1806 for 120 guineas and 12 guineas for the frame. By descent to the current Lord Egremont. On loan from the Egremont Private Collection
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection
Makers and roles
Richard Westall, RA (Reepham 1765 - London 1836), artist