''Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest'', also known as ''Ferdinand courting Miranda'' () is an

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

by the English painter William Hogarth. It has been displayed at Nostell Priory since 1766, and was acquired by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

in 2002. The National Trust claims that it is "the first known painting of a scene from Shakespeare". The painting is a rich and vibrant example of Hogarth's work, painted c.1730-1735 as a special project for one of his devoted band of patrons— The Earl of Macclesfield—as part of Hogarth's attempt to found an distinctively British school of history painting. It is thought that Hogarth was hoping that more commissions for similar scenes would come flowing in after painting this scene, but this did not happen. It measures and depicts a scene from act 1, scene ii, of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play, '' The Tempest'', with Ferdinand courting Miranda. Miranda is depicted sitting on a throne made of shells and coral, distracted and thus spilling from a bowl of milk that she has been feeding to a lamb. To the left is her father

Prospero Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to sea ...

, and further left is Ferdinand. The spirit

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

floats above, playing a

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. To the right is the misshapen monster Caliban, with a bat above his head, grimacing and drooling as he stamps on a dove. The painting was bought from the Earl of Macclesfield's widow in 1766 by

Sir Rowland Winn, 5th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

, and was hung on the walls of Nostell Priory, near

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England, for over two centuries by the Winn Baronets and then their relatives the Barons St Oswald. Nostell Priory was acquired by the National Trust in 1953, but the former owners retained most of the contents. When the 6th

Baron St Oswald Baron St Oswald, of Nostell in the West Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the industrialist and Conservative politician Rowland Winn, a former Member of Parliament for Nor ...

announced his wish to sell the painting in 2002, it was bought by the

, with the whole cost of nearly £300,000 funded with a grant from the

Art Fund Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as ...

References

Bibliography

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External links

*
"''A Scene from Act I, Scene 2 of 'The Tempest''

Art UK Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 220,000 paintings by more than 40,000 artists and is now expanding the digital collection t ...

{{Authority control Paintings by William Hogarth Paintings based on works by William Shakespeare Works based on The Tempest 1735 paintings Doves in art Sheep in art Books in art Musical instruments in art Collections of the National Trust

See also

References

Bibliography

External links