Description
This painting powerfully illustrates changes in taste over time. Before it was even completed, the painting was purchased for the considerable sum of £1,000 by a newly wealthy industrialist who admired John Linnell’s modern approach to religious subjects. In 1913, however, the painting was sold at auction for only £130. Victorian painting had fallen out of favor among collectors who did not appreciate Linnell’s hotly colored landscapes that combined biblical stories and poetry (in this case Milton’s Paradise Lost) with close study of the English landscape. Linnell was also known for financially supporting the destitute and elderly William Blake, whose mesmerizing painting of Saint Matthew is in the museum's collection.
Provenance
Sold to Joseph Gillott [1799-1872], Birmingham, United Kingdom, May 1847, before the work was completed. (1847-1872); (Christie's, London, United Kingdom, April 19-20 and 26-27, and May 3-4, 1872, sale, lot 137, sold to J. Rhodes for Angus, 1st Lord Holden) (1872); Angus 1st Lord Holden [1833-1912], Nun Appleton House, Bolton Percy, England (1872-1913); (Christie's, London, United Kingdom, July 18, 1913, Holden Sale, lot 64, sold to Bale. Mrs. C. Hunter) (1913); (Sotheby's, London Belgravia sale, February 22, 1972, lot 98, sold to Jeremy Maas, with Herner Wengraf, London) (1972); (Herner Wengraf, London, United Kingdom, 1972, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (1972); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1972-)
Accession Number
1972.119
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Framed: 168.5 x 242.5 x 9.5 cm (66 5/16 x 95 1/2 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 146 x 221 cm (57 1/2 x 87 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund