Paetus and Arria
Robert Fagan (1761 - Rome 1816)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1793 - 1795
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1206 x 1048 mm (47 1/2 x 41 1/4 in)
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609089
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Paetus and Arria by Robert Fagan (Cork c.1745 – Rome 1816), 1793/95. Two full-length figures: Paetus on the left, naked, his weight resting on his left foot, looking to the left but his face is obscured by his right arm which is raised and is in the process of pressing down, a sword, into the top of his left breast, his left hand supports the left arm of the kneeling figure of his wife, dressed in classical robes, who is at his side and whose head is bent down to the left, her right arm hanging so that her fingers touch the ground. Inspired by the antique marble group of the Ludovisi Gaul on semi-circular base, killing himself having killed his wife before the enemy, in the Ludovisi Collection from November 1623 and since 1901 in the Museo Nazionale, Rome (Museo delle Terme). It was called Pyramus and Thisbe in 1638 from Ovid's story and since 1670, Paetus and Arria.
Provenance
Presumably commissioned by Thomas Noel Hill, 2nd Lord Berwick (1770-1832) on his visit to Naples in 1792/3; bequeathed to the National Trust in 1947 with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Robert Fagan (1761 - Rome 1816), artist
References
Haskell and Penny 1981: Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique, The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500 - 1900, New Haven and London, 1981, 68, fig. 149