- Museum number
- 1994,1210.6
- Description
-
An Assemblage of works of art in sculpture and in painting, from the earliest period to the time of Phydias; Hindu, Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Mexican and Honduran sculpture, vases and paintings from the collection of the British Museum and some private collections, arranged roughly in horizontal registers. 1845
Watercolour over graphite, in contemporary gilt frame
- Production date
- 1845
- Dimensions
-
Height: 743 millimetres
-
Width: 622 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Between 1817 and 1845, Stephanoff exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-colours (later the Royal Watercolour Society) a series of six large, highly finished watercolours based on works in the British Museum's collection: 1. 'The Connoisseur' (1817) [last sold Sotheby's London, 13.vii.1989/97, size of work 51 x 70 cm, ex-collection of Coke Jameson then Edward James, West Dean Park, Sussex]; 2. 'An apartment containing the Phygalian and a selection of the Elgin Collection at the British Museum' (1818); 3. 'Roman Antiquities from the British Museum' (1833); 4. 'The Virtuoso' (1833); 5. 'A Museum, containing a selection of some of the Antiquities brought from Xanthus, and now in the British Museum' (1843); and the present work.
The following caption accompanied this watercolour when it was exhibited at the Old Watercolour Society in 1845: "At the base of the picture are specimens of Hindu and Javanese sculpture, and on either side are the colossal figures and bas-reliefs from Copan and Palenque; those above them are from Persepolis and Babylon, followed by the Egyptian, Etruscan, and early Greek remains, and surmounted by the pediment from Aegina; bas-reliefs and fragments from Xanthus and Phygalia; the Theseus, Ceres and Latona, the Fates, and other figures from the Parthenon; and terminating in a portion of the equestrian bas-reliefs of the Panathenaic procession in the Temple of Minerva."
These include (identified by Donato Esposito, 2002) two red granite recumbent Egyptian lions from the temple of Amenhotep III at Soleb (EA 1 & 2), (?) the head from a colossal statue of Amenhotep III from his mortuary temple at Thebes (EA 3, ? as though restored), the red granite monument of Tuthmose III (EA 12) and the stone relief at Gate R at Pasargadae of a four-winged guardian figure wearing an Egyptian crown. He also notes it was reviewed in the 'Illustrated London News' as follows; "It is well executed, and arranged with great ability, but we confess that we value it more for its curiosity as a work of comparison and reference than we do artistically" ('Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Watercolours, Pall Mall East', 'Illustrated London News', 3 May 1845, pp.281-2 (282)).
See Ian Jenkins, 'James Stephanoff and the British Museum' in 'Apollo', March 1985, pp.174-181.
For fuller literature and exhibition references, see dossier.
The watercolour is kept framed in the basement store (period V) and a digital photographic reproduction has been mounted Royal size and is kept with the Stephanoff watercolours.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1845 London, OWS, no.200
1995-6 Nov-Apr, BM, Recent Acquisitions (no cat.)
2003, April-Sep, BM, Museum of the Mind
2003-4 Dec-April, BM, NACF exhibition
- Acquisition date
- 1994
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1994,1210.6
