Soldiers in ancient Greek costume talking with a wounded man who holds an arrow
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

On a rocky outcrop near a shoreline, a wounded man sits bare-chested, facing the viewer, wearing a cloth around his waist and a bandage around his left ankle. He holds an arrow in his right hand and looks to his left at a soldier who is speaking to him. The soldier is dressed in chain mail and wears a sword at his waist. With his back to us, he looks left toward the wounded man, gesturing to him with his left hand, and gesturing behind him toward the sea with his right. At right, three more soldiers look on.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.408
People
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Title
Philoctetes and Neoptolemus at Lemnos
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1812
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297977

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, black ink and graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 34 x 45.6 cm (13 3/8 x 17 15/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: black ink, bottom center: W. Blake 1812

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.408
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1981), no. 676, pl. 965
  • Jeffrey Fontana, Timeless Beauty: Representing the Ideal in Necoclassical Drawing, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1999), checklist no. 2, fig. 7
  • Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), cat. no. 2, repr. (color)

Exhibition History

  • Timeless Beauty: Representing the Ideal in Neoclassical Drawing, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/07/1999 - 10/31/1999
  • Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu