The result is an handsome painting which Barry, on seeing it at the 1765 exhibition, described as 'an exceedingly good landscape'. Similarly, the mangled remains of Cadmus's numerous companions have been reduced to two figures lying on the ground as if asleep. Zuccarelli renders the scene with great accuracy of detail, but characteristically reduces Ovid's towering monster to proportions that do not interfere with the pleasantly Arcadian landscape and make the hero's victory reassuringly predictable.
Protected by a lion-skin and armed with a javelin, Cadmus first throws a massive boulder at the dragon, then backs it against an oak tree and spears it to death. The 'serpent', which dwells in a cave beside a spring in the primeval forest, destroys the hero's companions when they come to collect spring water for a libation. The painting, which dates from Zuccarelli's second long stay in London, takes its subject from Book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses where Cadmus, on his journey to Thebes, is called upon to overcome a dragon sacred to Mars. Levey, 'Francesco Zuccarelli in England', Italian Studies, vol.14, 1959, pp.1-20 Repr: Tate Gallery Report 1984-6, 1986, p.55 (col.) Fryer (ed.), The Works of James Barry, Historical Painter, 1809, I, p.19 M. Christie's 19 November 1982 (49, repr.), bt Colnaghi, from whom bt by Tate Gallery Exh: SA 1765 (211) Views from the Grand Tour, Colnaghi, New York 1983 (50, repr.) Art, Commerce, Scholarship: A Window onto the Art World - Colnaghi 1760 to 1984, Colnaghi 1984 (32, repr.) Lit: E. Thomas Capron, sold Christie's (40 as 'Jason Destroying the Dragon, in a Grand Woody Landscape, near a Cascade') bt Clarke. Nineteenth-century catalogues of paintings at Althorp.
said to come 'from the Earl Spencer's Collection', but not traceable in T04121 A Landscape with the Story of Cadmus Killing the Dragon 1765 Egerton, The Age of Hogarth, Tate Gallery Collections: Volume Two, London 1988, pp.248-9, reproduced in colourĭoes this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you. This painting dates from Zuccarelli's second long stay in London (1765- c.1771).įurther reading: The Tate Gallery 1984-86: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1988, His idealised Italian views found great favour with English audiences, and he rapidly achieved success in that country, becoming a founder-member of the Royal Academy in 1768. Several Italian artists who travelled to England in the eighteenth century. Meleager and Atalanta, 1771 (Tate Gallery T03366), while retaining much of Zuccarelli's basic compositional formula, contrasts with the latter's pleasingly coloured Rococo rendering. Zuccarelli was an early influence on Richard Wilson, whose later gloomy and dramatic treatment of another subject from Ovid, While enhancing its interest by the insertion of a classical subject, Zuccarelli lets the landscape element predominate.
DRAGON LANDSCAPE. FREE
The result is an attractive painting which James Barry, on seeing it at the 1765 Free Society of Artists exhibition, described as 'an exceedingly good landscape'. Numerous companions have been reduced to two figures lying on the ground as if asleep. Similarly, the mangled remains of Cadmus's Zuccarelli renders the scene with greatĪccuracy of detail, but characteristically reduces Ovid's towering monster to proportions that do not interfere with the pleasantly Arcadian landscape, making the hero's victory reassuringly predictable. The serpent, which dwells in a cave beside a spring in the primeval forest, destroys the hero'sĬompanions when they come to collect spring water. The subject of this painting is taken from Book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses.Ĭadmus, the mythological founder of Thebes and brother of Europa, while on his journey to Thebes is called upon to overcome a dragon sacred to Mars.
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