Penelope and Euriclea also known as Penelope awakened by Euryclea with the news of Ulysses' Return
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
c. 1773
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
787 x 1045 mm
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732643
Caption
As a popular history painter, Angelica Kauffman succeeded where most artists in 18th-century Britain fell short. History paintings, which drew their subjects from literary, mythological and religious sources, were considered the most prestigious of visual art forms for their intellectual and technical ambition. They also posed a commercial challenge in a contemporary art market geared towards the more domestic genres, especially portraiture. Kauffman’s exceptional success in this field earned her a place as one of the first members of the Royal Academy of Arts in London: one of just two women to gain this distinction, and the last for over 150 years. Swiss-born, Kauffman demonstrated an early talent for music as well as painting, but ultimately chose art as her profession; a crossroads in life she later depicted in an allegorical self-portrait. This path led her to Italy where, along with other artists, she looked afresh at the ancient sculpture and classically inspired pictures of the previous century. A new, restrained form of history painting emerged, known as Neoclassicism, to which Kauffman added a distinctive spin – typically foregrounding women characters and often emphasising their fortitude. High repute in Italy provided inroads to London, where she arrived in 1766. Over the next 15 years Kauffman went from strength to strength, thriving in the country’s unique atmosphere of commercial innovation. As well as producing paintings for the nobility, she contributed regularly to the new public exhibitions, branching out subjects with a view to mass appeal. Capitalising on the ornamental potential of her style, she became the foremost supplier of designs for framed furniture prints, so-called for their primarily decorative function. ‘Angelicamania’ in turn led to the incorporation of classical compositions inspired by her works into all manner of household goods, from Chippendale commodes to Wedgwood creamers.
Summary
Oil on canvas, Penelope and Euriclea, also known as Penelope awakened by Euryclea with the news of Ulysses' Return, Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807) and Studio, c. 1773. A scene from Homer's Odyssey in which the nurse Euriclea (Euryclea) awakens the sleeping Penelope with news of Ulysses’ return from the Trojan War. The scene is set in Penelope's bedroom, against a draped background with flaming torch and a statue of Minerva. A censer is in the foreground at bottom left. The painting is unlined. The painting was purchased by Henry Hoare II (1705-85) and remained at Stourhead until the Heirloom sale of 1883 (lot 3). It is related to NT 732292, 'Penelope sacrificing to Minerva for the Safe Return of her Son, Telemachus,' which Hoare II purchased shortly after its exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1774 (no. 143). A nearly identical version of this composition, which Kauffman signed and dated 1772, is today in the Vorarlberger Landesmuseum, Bregenz (see Baumgärtel 1998, p. 378, no. 223).
Provenance
Purchased by Henry Hoare II; listed in the Act of Settlement of 1784 by which Stourhead passed to Henry Hoare’s grandson Richard Colt Hoare; listed in Richard Colt Hoare’s The History Of Modern Wiltshire, 1822, vol. I, catalogue of pictures (in the Dining Room); listed in the 1838 inventory of Stourhead (in the Dining Parlour); sold by Sir Henry Ainslie Hoare, Stourhead Heirlooms Pictures sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, 2 June 1883, lot 3; purchased by Waters (7 guineas); Sir Arthur Philip du Cros (1871-1955), 1st Bt., Dublin, Christie's, London, 17 July 1992, lot 14 [Property of a Gentleman]; acquired by J. E. Safra; purchased at auction by the National Trust for Stourhead, 24 May 2023, at Christies New York, 'Remastered: Old Masters from the Collection of J.E. Safra', Christie’s New York, sale no. 22319, lot 51.
Makers and roles
Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807), artist
References
Wassyng Roworth 1992: Angelica Kauffmann, A Continental Artist in Georgian England, (ed. Wendy Wassyng Roworth), exh.cat. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, 14 November 1992 - 3 January 1993, pp. 53, 65, and 209, fig. 33 Baumgärtel 1998: Bettina Baumgärtel et al, Angelika Kauffmann Retrospektive, exh.cat, Düsseldorf, Munich, and Chur 1998, p. 378, no. 223 Rosenthal 2006: Angela Rosenthal, Angelica Kauffman, art and sensibility, New Haven and London 2006, p. 288, note 67 Conroy, Rachel, Women Artists and Designers at the National Trust, 2025, pp. 66-69