Lot 41: Jacob More , 1740 - 1793 The Rape of Deianera; and Rest on the Flight to Egypt a pair, oil on canvas, laid down on board, oval

the first signed l.r.; Jacob More/ Roma 1786 a pair, oil on canvas, laid down on board, oval Quantity: 2

measurements note each 103.5 by 138.5 cm., 40 3/4 by 54 1/2 in.

L. Herrmann, British Landscape Painting of the Eighteenth Century, 1973, p. 70;
E. Waterhouse, The Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters in oils and crayons, 1981, p. 244 (illus.);
J. Holloway, Jacob More 1720-1793, 1987, illus. no. 7, p. 24;
P.R. Andrew,"Jacob More: Biography and a Checklist of Works,"The Walpole Society, Vol. LV, 1989/90, cat. nos. B.24.i & B.31, figs. 135 & 136;
K. Nicholson, Turner's Classical Landscapes; Myth and Meaning, 1990, p. 28, fig. 21 (Rape of Deianara only)

Lady Moyra Loyd, daughter of William Brodrick, 9th Viscount Midleton and wife of General Sir Henry Loyd;
Her sale, Christie's London, 18th November 1960, lot 101 and 102;
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's London, 18 April 1962, lot 120 (bt. by the present owner)

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
The first of these two decorative landscapes, The Rape of Deianera, depicts the famous episode from classical mythology in which Deianera, the daughter of Althaea and Oeneus and the third wife of Heracles, was kidnapped by Nessus, a wild centaur, as she crossed the river Enenos. The episode forms part of the legend of the Tunic of Nessus and portrays the centaur and his victim emerging from the river in the central foreground, while Heracles prepares to shoot his poisoned arrow and rescue his beloved. The second, Rest on the Flight, visualises the biblical reference to the Holy Family's exodus from Israel into Egypt, but is set in the undulating topography of the Roman Campagna, with an aqueduct and the Pyramid of Cestius beyond. The composition is influenced by Claude's painting of the same subject which hangs in the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery, which the artist may well have seen whilst in Rome. More arrived in Rome in 1773, having studied under Wilson in London, and quickly established himself as the leading landscape painter among the thriving colony of British artists working there. In 1781 his talents were recognised and he was rewarded with his election to the Accademia di San Luca and Rome, who also commissioned his portrait (now in the Uffizi, Florence).