Niccolò dell'Abate, 'The Death of Eurydice', about 1552-71
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.
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
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
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1950H. Bodmer, 'Die Landschaften des Niccolò dell'Abbate', Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaft, IV/2, 1950, pp. 106-12
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1957A. Blunt, Art and Architecture in France 1500-1700, 2nd edn, Harmondsworth 1957
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1960S. Béguin, L'École de Fontainebleau: Le maniérisme à la cour de France, Paris 1960
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1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
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1964J. Bousquet, La peinture manieriste, Neuchâtel 1964
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1966A.R. Turner, The Vision of Landscape in Renaissance Italy, Princeton 1966
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1969L.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
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1969S. Béguin, Mostra di Nicolò dell'Abate (exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, 1 September - 20 October 1969), Bologna 1969
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1970E. Langmuir, 'Nicolò dell'Abbate's Aristeus and Eurydice', The Burlington Magazine, CXII/803, 1970, pp. 107-8
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1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
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1979B. Lossky, Le maniérisme en France et en Europe du Nord, Geneva 1979
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1986S. Béguin, 'I pittori bolognesi a Fontainebleau', in V.F. Pietrantonio (ed.), Pittura Bolognese del '500, Bologna 1986, pp. 237-68
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1986W. Bergamini, 'Nicolò dell'Abate: (Modena, 1512 ca. - Fontainebleau?, 1571)', in V.F. Pietrantonio (ed.), Pittura Bolognese del '500, Bologna 1986, pp. 269-338
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
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1990M. 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
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1992R.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
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1994C. Gould, Parmigianino, Milan 1994
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1994M. Lucco, 'Le siècle de Titien', Paragone, XLV/535-537, 1994, pp. 26-47
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1996P.G. Tordella, 'Federico Zuccari: Il mito di Aristeo in un disegno inedito', Dialoghi di storia dell'arte, III, 1996, pp. 112-7
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1999J. Dunkerton, S. Foister and N. Penny, Dürer to Veronese: Sixteenth-Century Painting in the National Gallery, London 1999
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1999C. Scailliérez, 'Da Francesco I a Enrico IV: Una pittura colta', in P. Rosenberg (ed.), La pittura francese, Milan 1999, vol. 1, pp. 169-237
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2005S. 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.