Niccolò dell'Abate, 'The Death of Eurydice', about 1552-71

The Death of Eurydice

Niccolò dell'Abate

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The story of Eurydice and Aristaeus is told by the Roman poet Virgil. In the far distance Orpheus, Eurydice’s husband, charms wild animals with his music. Three nymphs gather flowers, unaware that the shepherd Aristaeus is pursuing Eurydice. She is bitten by a snake as she runs away. Identifiable by her blue drapery, Eurydice appears again, lying dead on the ground. In the middle distance, Aristaeus consults his mother Cyrene concerning the death of his bees. The sea-god Proteus, lying with his overflowing urn on the ground, explained to Aristaeus that the disaster in the hives was a punishment for his pursuit of Eurydice.

This picture was probably painted in France where Niccolò dell'Abate worked from 1552 onwards. The landscape is truly spectacular – golden clouds filter sunlight and shadow across a multitude of fantastic classical buildings, spires and columns to magical effect. The landscape expresses the emotional content of the story in a way that was quite new in French art.

In-depth

The story of Eurydice and Aristaeus is told by the Roman poet Virgil (Georgics, IV) and was retold by the fifteenth-century Italian lyric poet Poliziano in his Orfeo. Niccolò dell’Abate has approached the composition as a continuous narrative – he has shown episodes of the story all together even though they occurred at different times.

In the far distance Orpheus, Eurydice’s husband, charms the animals with his music. A leopard, stag, boar, lion and even a unicorn have gathered to listen to him playing his lyre. In the central foreground, three nymphs are gathering flowers, unaware that the shepherd Aristaeus is pursuing Eurydice. She is bitten by a snake as she runs away. Slightly to the right, Eurydice – identifiable by her blue drapery – appears again, lying dead on the ground. In the middle distance, Aristaeus consults his mother Cyrene concerning the death of his bees. The male figure with the overflowing urn lying on the ground to the extreme right is the sea-god Proteus, who explained to Aristaeus that the disaster in the hives was a punishment for his pursuit of Eurydice.

This picture was probably painted in France, where Niccolò worked from 1552 onwards. Documents at the Royal Château of Fontainebleau, which was once owned by the kings of France, record that he painted several large landscapes for the king’s study. This painting is not specifically mentioned, although it may have been among the ‘eight large landscapes’ recorded in the 1692 inventory of the Cabinet of Paintings at Fontainebleau.

The landscape is truly spectacular. Golden clouds filter sunlight and shadow across a multitude of fantastic classical buildings, spires and columns to magical effect. The glassy surface of the sea is shrouded in mist in the distance where it meets the slopes of the snow-covered mountains. Clusters of houses nestle among thickets of trees and vegetation, which cling to the shore and sprout from rocky hillsides. Water, mountains, land, plants and buildings are combined harmoniously, bathed in streaks of warm golden sunlight or cast in deep shade.

The extensive landscape shows the influence of Dosso Dossi, who during the 1520s and 1530s painted delicate dreamlands lit by an unearthly light and populated by small mythological characters. The mythological paintings Niccolò dell’Abate produced in France marry the landscape with the figures in a way that expresses the emotional content of the story. Although this was an approach employed by earlier Italian artists, it was quite new in French art and anticipated the classicising landscapes of the seventeenth-century French artists Poussin and Claude.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Death of Eurydice
Artist: Niccolò dell'Abate
Artist dates: about 1509/12 - 1571
Date made: about 1552-71
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 189.2 × 237.5 cm
Acquisition credit: Presented by the Art Fund, 1941
Inventory number: NG5283
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Very possibly the picture to which, in a letter dated 30th August, 1827, the dealer, W. Buchanan drew the attention of J. G. von Dillis, director of the Munich Gallery, as a possible purchase by the latter institution: Nicolo del’ Abatte—A Grand Landscape by this Master, equal to Titian’s Landscapes—with the Korey Euridice beautifully treated—size of the picture about 8 feet—the price £1,000. Almost certainly in an anonymous sale, Christie’s, 16th April, 1831: Niccolo del ABATI Orpheus and Eurydice. A grand and extensive landscape, with a City on the Sea Shore, and elegant Figures in the foreground, illustrating the Story of Orpheus and Eurydice (bought in at 55 guineas). The same picture was lot 14, the Hon. W. B. Grey sale, Christie’s, 15th June, 1836 (bought Lister). It should be noted that the Talbot collection, from which no. 5283 came, is said to have been formed by T. M. Talbot, who died in 1813. Purchased at the Margam Castle sale (Miss E. C. Talbot, Christie’s, 29th October, 1941, lot 356) on behalf of the National Art-Collections Fund, by whom presented, 1941. Exh. N.A.-C.F. Exhibition (in honour of Sir Robert Witt), National Gallery, 1964 (3), Exhibition of Cleaned Pictures, National Gallery, 1947 (39).

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1987; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1950

H. Bodmer, 'Die Landschaften des Niccolò dell'Abbate', Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft, IV/2, 1950, pp. 106-12
1957

A. Blunt, Art and Architecture in France 1500-1700, 2nd edn, Harmondsworth 1957
1960

S. Béguin, L'École de Fontainebleau: Le maniérisme à la cour de France, Paris 1960
1962

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
1964

J. Bousquet, La peinture manieriste, Neuchâtel 1964
1966

A.R. Turner, The Vision of Landscape in Renaissance Italy, Princeton 1966
1969

L.M. Golson, 'Landscape Prints and Landscapists of the School of Fontainebleau, C.1543 - C.1570', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXI/73, 1969, pp. 95-110
1969

S. Béguin, Mostra di Nicolò dell'Abate (exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, 1 September - 20 October 1969), Bologna 1969
1970

E. Langmuir, 'Nicolò dell'Abbate's Aristeus and Eurydice', The Burlington Magazine, CXII/803, 1970, pp. 107-8
1975

C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
1979

B. Lossky, Le maniérisme en France et en Europe du Nord, Geneva 1979
1986

S. Béguin, 'I pittori bolognesi a Fontainebleau', in V.F. Pietrantonio (ed.), Pittura Bolognese del '500, Bologna 1986, pp. 237-68
1986

W. Bergamini, 'Nicolò dell'Abate: (Modena, 1512 ca. - Fontainebleau?, 1571)', in V.F. Pietrantonio (ed.), Pittura Bolognese del '500, Bologna 1986, pp. 269-338
1987

Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
1990

M. Kitson, 'The Seventeenth Century: Claude to Francisque Millet', in A. Wintermute (ed.), Claude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France, New York 1990, pp. 11-26
1992

R.M. San Juan, 'Mythology, Women and Renaissance Private Life: The Myth of Eurydice in Italian Furniture Painting', Art History, XV/2, 1992, pp. 127-45
1994

C. Gould, Parmigianino, Milan 1994
1994

M. Lucco, 'Le siècle de Titien', Paragone, XLV/535-537, 1994, pp. 26-47
1996

P.G. Tordella, 'Federico Zuccari: Il mito di Aristeo in un disegno inedito', Dialoghi di storia dell'arte, III, 1996, pp. 112-7
1999

J. Dunkerton, S. Foister and N. Penny, Dürer to Veronese: Sixteenth-Century Painting in the National Gallery, London 1999
1999

C. Scailliérez, 'Da Francesco I a Enrico IV: Una pittura colta', in P. Rosenberg (ed.), La pittura francese, Milan 1999, vol. 1, pp. 169-237
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2005

S. Béguin and F. Piccininis, Nicolò dell'Abate: Storie dipinte nella pittura del Cinquecento tra Modena e Fontainebleau, (exh. cat. Foro Boario, 20 March - 19 June 2005), Cinisello Balsamo 2005

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.