Design for a memorial to Sir William Myers
Stothard's design honors a British lieutenant colonel killed at the Battle of Valverde in the Peninsular War. Allegorical figures of Britannia and Fame flank a sarcophagus beneath a plaque, with battle flags above shielding a sinking sun inscribed with Myers' name. If a related carved memorial was ever made, it has not been identified.
Made of several joined sheets, the drawing developed in stages with the lower portions made first, and the upper section added after Myers’s death. Below, the ink is warmer and pen work freer, with Britannia and Fame drawn with an elegant classicism close that recalls the early work of John Flaxman, to whom Stothard was close from 1778. The battle flags and stylized sun above represent a cooler, stonier neoclassical style.
Stothard's long and productive career encompassed painting, book illustration, etching, china designs made for Wedgwood, and impressive silver presentation pieces. The present sheet comes from a series of commissions he received during the Napoleonic conflict.
Made of several joined sheets, the drawing developed in stages with the lower portions made first, and the upper section added after Myers’s death. Below, the ink is warmer and pen work freer, with Britannia and Fame drawn with an elegant classicism close that recalls the early work of John Flaxman, to whom Stothard was close from 1778. The battle flags and stylized sun above represent a cooler, stonier neoclassical style.
Stothard's long and productive career encompassed painting, book illustration, etching, china designs made for Wedgwood, and impressive silver presentation pieces. The present sheet comes from a series of commissions he received during the Napoleonic conflict.
Artwork Details
- Title: Design for a memorial to Sir William Myers
- Artist: Thomas Stothard (British, London 1755–1834 London)
- Subject: Sir William Myers (British, died 1811)
- Date: 1811
- Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash on joined sheets of paper
- Dimensions: Sheet: 20 3/16 × 17 7/16 in. (51.2 × 44.3 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Edward Pearce Casey Fund, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.640
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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