Neo-classical study of two maidens ushered into the presence of a bearded man
Brown ink and pencil on paper
6ins x 8.75ins
Private collection
Samuel Woodforde RA (29 March 1763 – 27 July 1817) was an 18th-century English painter.
Family legend suggests that he began his career by painting inn signs in the villages surrounding Ansford and Castle Cary for pocket money.
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
Lot and his Daughters (after Lagrenée), circa 1782 and circa 1785
Oil on canvas
Height: 40.6 cm (15.9 in); Width: 33 cm (12.9 in)
National Trust
Lot and his two daughters, Genesis 19:30-38, left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today. More Lot and his two daughters
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
A Group from the Rape of the Sabines (after Nicolas Poussin), c. 1812
Oil on canvas
H 113.5 x W 109 cm
National Trust, Stourhead
According to Roman legend, as told by the writers Plutarch, Livy and Virgil, Romulus decided that, to assure the future of Rome, his warriors needed wives. He tried to negotiate marriages with an unwilling local tribe, the Sabines. He organised a festival, as a ruse, whereby his men attempted to carry off the women. This is one of two distilled compositions (The second is below) copied from the group of warrior, old man, woman and child in the right foreground of Poussin's masterpiece. More on Rape of the Sabines
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
A Group from the Rape of the Sabines (after Nicolas Poussin), c. 1812
Oil on canvas
H 113.5 x W 109 cm
National Trust, Stourhead
In 1786, thanks to the continuing patronage of Henry Hoare, Samuel Woodforde travelled to Italy where he was able to study the works of Raphael and Michelangelo in Rome. He also visited Florence and Venice, and returned to London in 1791, resuming his contributions to the Royal Academy in 1792.
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
'Titus Andronicus', Act II, Scene 3, Tamora, Lavinia, Demetrius and Chiron (from the Boydell series)
Oil on canvas
H 72.5 x W 58 cm
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593.
Titus, a general in the Roman army, presents Tamora, Queen of the Goths, as a slave to the new Roman emperor, Saturninus. Saturninus takes her as his wife. From this position Tamora undertakes revenge against Titus for killing her son.
To get back at Titus, she schemes with her lover Aaron to have Titus's two sons framed for the murder of Bassianus, the emperor's brother. Titus's sons are beheaded. Unappeased, she urges her sons Chiron and Demetrius to rape Titus's daughter Lavinia, after which they cut off her hands and tongue so she cannot give their crime away. Finally, even Titus's last surviving son Lucius is banished from Rome; he subsequently seeks alliance with the enemy Goths in order to attack Rome. Each new misfortune hits the aged, tired Titus with heavier impact. Eventually, he begins to act oddly and everyone assumes that he is crazy. More on Titus Andronicus
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
Dorinda, Wounded by Silvio, Is Sustained by Linco, c. 1802
Oil on board
H 35.5 x W 45 cm
Royal Academy of Arts
Il pastor fido (The Faithfull Shepherd in Richard Fanshawe's 1647 English translation) is a pastoral tragicomedy set in Arcadia by Giovanni Battista Guarini, first published in 1590 in Venice.
The play unfolds a double plot. One storyline follows Silvio, who cares only for the hunt and gives no thought to love or to his impending marriage. Silvio is pursued by a nymph named Dorinda. She tries to win his love in several ways, but he scorns her affections. One day Dorinda, seeking to watch Silvio as he hunts, disguises herself as a shepherd wearing wolfskin clothes. After the hunt, she departs and lies down to rest. From a distance, Silvio mistakes her for a wolf and shoots her with an arrow. Having wounded Dorinda, Silvio is at last awakened to pity, and to love. More on Dorinda
From 1792 until 1815 he was a constant exhibitor of portraits, scenes of Italian life, historical pictures and subjects from literature. In all, he sent 133 pictures to the Royal Academy, and 39 to the British Institution. His `Dorinda wounded by Sylvia' is in the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House (See above). A watercolour `Pan teaching Apollo (1790) (See below) is in the South Kensington Museum.
Samuel Woodford (British, 1763–1817)
Pan teaching Apollo (1790)South Kensington Museum
I have no further description, at this time
Samuel Woodford (British, 1763–1817)
A BACCHANTE, IN A WOODED LANDSCAPE , c.1788
THOUGHT TO BE LADY HAMILTON
Oil on canvas
137 x 99 cm. (53.9 x 39 in.)
Private collection
Emma, Lady Hamilton (26 April 1765; baptised 12 May 1765 – 15 January 1815) was an English model and actress, who is best remembered as the mistress of Lord Nelson and as the muse of the portrait artist George Romney. More on Lady Hamilton
In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones." Maenads were known as Bassarids, Bacchae or Bacchantes in Roman mythology, after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a bassaris or fox-skin.
Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pine cone. They would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes. More Bacchante
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus (after Raphael), c. 1804
Oil on canvas
180 × 230 cm (70.8 × 90.5 in)
National Trust, Stourhead
Mount Parnassus is a mountain in central Greece. According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Dionysus and the Dionysian mysteries; it was also sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs, and it was the home of the Muses. The mountain was also favored by the Dorians. It is suggested that the name derives from parnassas, the possessive adjective of the Luwian word parna meaning house, or specifically temple, so the name effectively means the mountain of the house of the god. More on Mount Parnassus
Most of Samuel's compositions are said to be in the correct classical style of his period. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1800 and an academician in 1807.
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
THE BENNETT FAMILY exh. 1803
Oil on canvas,
119 × 143 (303.5 × 364.5)
Tate
The sitters are James Bennett (1745–1815), Cadbury, Somerset, and his wife Mary Clutterbuck (1762–1853) The girl with the tambourine is their eldest daughter Mary; beside her, holding a triangle, is her sister Eliza; the boy in black is the eldest son James, and the boy in red is his brother Henry. The girl sitting on the carpet is Juliana Sarah, and the child asleep on her lap is Frances Ann.
The Bennetts were an old Somersetshire family, and appear to have been at the height of their prosperity at the time of the Napoleonic wars, so that it would have been quite natural for them to order such a large family portrait. More on the Bennett
After Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
The family of King Charles I, late 18th to early 19th century
Line engraving
3 7/8 in. x 5 3/4 in. (100 mm x 147 mm)
National Portrait Gallery, London
Sitters: King Charles I (1600-1649), King Charles II (1630-1685), King James II (1633-1701), Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), Queen of Charles I, Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (1631-1660)
Samuel Woodford (British, 1763--1817)
A country girl , c. 1809
Oil on canvas
76 x 64 cm (29.9 x 25.2 in)
Private collection
Samuel Woodforde (1763–1817)
A Shepherdess with a Lamb in a Storm, c. 1812
Oil on canvas
H 126.5 x W 75 cm
National Trust, Stourhead
On 7 October 1815 at Saint Bride's, Fleet Street in London, Samuel married Jane Gardner who it is assumed was one of his models and went to live in Italy. She was born in about 1794.
Samuel died of fever at Ferrara on 27 July 1817 leaving no children. Little is known about Jane after Samuel's death except that the Woodforde family quarrelled with her over the ownership of some of Samuel's pictures. A portrait of her by Samuel is in private ownership having been conserved through funding from the Parson Woodforde Society. More on Samuel Woodforde
Samuel Woodforde (1763-1817)
The Invasion of Greece by Xerxes, 480 B.C., Circa 1800
Ink and watercolour
Private collection
These four watercolour paintings depict key moments in the Invasion of Greece by Xerxes I in 480 B.C.
Woodforde might have been moved to depict the subject of Xerxes after the English translation in 1791 by Rev. William Beloe of the Histories of Herodotus which gave an account of the Persian King’s invasion. Also in 1777 Robert Potter translated from the Greek the ancient play ‘The Persians’ written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC.
Xerxes had spent years planning his invasion of Greece. It was to be his ‘divine punishment’ for his father Darius’ crushing defeat at Marathon in 490 BC. Now, a decade later, he had spared no expense in preparing a vast expeditionary force. After several years of planning, Xerxes’ huge army and navy travelled south from Sardis, through Thrace and Macedonia. More on these painting
Samuel Woodforde (1763-1817)
The Invasion of Greece by Xerxes, 480 B.C., Circa 1800
Ink and watercolour
Private collection
Samuel Woodforde (1763-1817)
The Invasion of Greece by Xerxes, 480 B.C., Circa 1800
Ink and watercolour
Private collection
Samuel Woodforde (1763-1817)
The Invasion of Greece by Xerxes, 480 B.C., Circa 1800
Ink and watercolour
Private collection
Samuel died of fever at Ferrara on 27 July 1817 leaving no children. Little is known about Jane after Samuel's death except that the Woodforde family quarrelled with her over the ownership of some of Samuel's pictures. A portrait of her by Samuel is in private ownership having been conserved through funding from the Parson Woodforde Society. More on Samuel Woodforde
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