Richard Rothwell
, Irish, 1800-1868
Title
CalistoDatec.1840
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
89 x 112 cm
Signedlower right: R. Rothwell
Credit LinePurchased, 1901
Object numberNGI.506
Label TextHaving received initial art training in Dublin, Rothwell moved to London, where he set up a successful portrait practice. Edwin Landseer and Thomas Lawrence were among those to praise the richness of his palette and compared his skill in painting flesh to that of the Old Masters. Rothwell exhibited regularly in London and Dublin, and spent three years in Italy. He considered this painting, the subject of which he derived from classical mythology, his finest picture, declaring that he had worked on it until it arrived ‘at that state of perfection on which my judgement cannot add another touch’.