The Tempest, Act I: Ferdinand and Miranda

1788

Not on view

On a rocky shore, Miranda catches sight of Ferdinand for the first time. Her father Prospero stands beside his daughter as the spirit Ariel plays a lyre, and the disgruntled Caliban watches at left. Cipriani and Barret's conception of this famous scene from Shakespeare's "Tempest" emphasizes the dramatic coastline in keeping with an established Franco-Italian tradition of landscape painting. The oval shape and small figures suggest a work conceived as part of a decorative scheme in a grand house, the sort of thing that Cipriani often worked on for architects such as Robert Adam.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: The Tempest, Act I: Ferdinand and Miranda
Engraver: Samuel Middiman (British, 1751–1831 London)
Artist: After Giovanni Battista Cipriani (Italian, Florence 1727–1785 Hammersmith (active London))
Artist: After George Barret, the elder (Irish, Dublin 1728/32–1784 Paddington, London)
Artist: After Francesco Bartolozzi (Italian, Florence 1728–1815 Lisbon)
Publisher: John & Josiah Boydell (British, 1786–1804)
Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
Date: 1788
Medium: Etching
Dimensions: Plate: 13 15/16 × 14 15/16 in. (35.4 × 38 cm)
Sheet: 15 3/4 × 19 5/16 in. (40 × 49 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962
Object Number: 62.600.350
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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