Ceyx and Alcyone (after Richard Wilson)
William Woollett (Maidstone 1735 - London 1785)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1769
Materials
Mezzotint on paper
Measurements
450 x 555 mm
Order this imageCollection
Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire
NT 979848
Caption
Richard Wilson painted Ceyx and Alcyone (exhibited at Society of Artists in 1768 and now in National Museum Wales, Cardiff) with an engraving in mind, commissioned by the print-publishing partnership of William Wynne Ryland and Henry Bryer. The scene depicted is from the Roman poet Ovid's Metamophoses XI that relates the shipwreck of Ceyx on his way to consult the oracle Claros. His wife Alcyone dreamed of the tragedy and was so distraught when she found out it was true, as his corpse is dragged ashore, that the pitying gods transformed the couple into birds. It has been suggested, anecdotally, that Wilson composed the rocky cliff and tower above by studying a pot of beer on a Stilton cheese.
Summary
Mezzotint print, Ceyx and Alcyone (after Richard Wilson) by William Woolett (Maidstone 1735 – London 1785), published 1769. Ebonised wooden frame. Embossed JR.
Marks and inscriptions
R.Wilson pinxt Londeni\Wm Woolett sculp.t\CEYX AND ALCOINE
Makers and roles
William Woollett (Maidstone 1735 - London 1785), engraver (printmaker) after Richard Wilson (Penegoes 1714 - Mold 1782), artist