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Comola

1883
Not on view
Comola (or Comala) is a Scottish princess described by Ossian, here shown seated on a rocky outcrop with a horn at her waist and accompanied by two deer hounds. She waits for her beloved, the warrior Fingal, who has gone into battle, and the fading light suggests his death. Steele's etching was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in 1883, based on an 1876 painting by Breton Riviere, a British artist with Huguenot roots.
The poet and scholar James Macpherson had published Ossian's poems in the late eighteenth century, claiming them to be translations of a rediscovered fifth-century Celtic epic. Hailed as a northern equivalents to Homer, the texts fired the imaginations of artists. Even after it was established that Macpherson had actually invented the texts, their subjects remained popular.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Comola
  • Etcher: Louis John Steele (British, Reigate, Surrey 1842–1918 Auckland, New Zealand)
  • Artist: After Briton Riviere (British, London 1840–1920 London)
  • Publisher: Robert Dunthorne (British, born ca. 1854, active 1881–1930s)
  • Author: Related author James Macpherson (British, Ruthven, Inverness-shire, Scotland 1736–1796 Belville, Inverness-shire)
  • Date: 1883
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Plate: 16 1/4 × 20 1/4 in. (41.2 × 51.5 cm)
    Sheet: 19 5/8 × 25 3/16 in. (49.8 × 64 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1946
  • Object Number: 46.140.5
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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