The Embarcation of Regulus

The Embarcation of Regulus
The Embarcation of Regulus
(American, 1801-1848)

The Embarcation of Regulus

Dateca. 1830
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 22 5/8 x 30 in. (57.5 x 76.2 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Mrs. Suzette Morton Zurcher for the Preston Morton Collection
Object number1960.32
Subject(s)
  • buildings
  • architecture
  • architecture
Collection
  • 19th century American
  • American
Sub-Collection(s)
  • American
On View
On view
Label Text

This painting was previously attributed to Thomas Cole, an American artist known for his majestic landscapes and allegorical portrayals of imagined classical cities, most famously depicted in his five part series, The Course of Empire. This painting similarly constructs a vast city with ambiguously classical architecture, peopled by masses of tiny figures.

However, discrepancies in the use of perspective as well as the formulaic poses of the figures fall short of the level of detail and execution in Cole’s own work. This painting is now thought to be by an American or British artist, most likely influenced not by Cole’s work but by similar seaport and embarkation scenes by 19th-century British artist J.M.W. Turner and 17th-century French landscape master Claude Lorraine. Both Turner and Claude depicted scenes from ancient history with similar downward-looking perspectives, architectural framing, and sunset lighting. Turner even painted the same subject, “The Embarcation of Regulus,” in 1828. Nevertheless, this painting is not a direct copy of a specific painting by Cole, Turner, or Claude. Instead, it likely integrates elements drawn from a range of reproductive engravings to create a new composition in the same vein.

The subject matter is now believed to be the “Embarcation of Regulus,” a scene from the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. Freed after five years of imprisonment, the Roman general Regulus is shown leaving Carthage to return to his native Rome.


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