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A Persian lady worshipping the rising sun
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SM P145. ©Sir John Soane's Museum, London. Photo: Art UK
Maria Cosway (1759 - 1838)
A Persian lady worshipping the rising sun
1784
Oil on canvas
Height: 61cm, sight size
Width: 73.7cm, sight size
Width: 73.7cm, sight size
Inscription note: There is an old circular label, 139 or 739 (?) on the frame reverse. NB this does not seem to relate either to the Soane or to the picture's exhibition at the Royal Academy.
Museum number: P145
On display: Picture Room
All spaces are in No. 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields unless identified as in No. 12, Soane's first house.
For tours https://www.soane.org/your-visit
Curatorial note
This view of a woman dressed in a flowing white robe, with clasped hands, adoring the sun rising over mountains in the distance, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1784 (no.120 A Persian going to adore the Sun) and was popularised through printed reproductions. A mezzotint engraving was published by James Walker on April the 20th 1784 (see British Museum 1888,0716.404), its issue coinciding with the exhibition. The print is lettered below the image with four lines of English verse in two columns reading: See the Fair Persian waiting for the Gleams / That light devotion in her artless Breast / Unconscious that her Eyes more potent Beams / Chase from dispairing lovers balmy Rest. The print is also inscribed 'From an original picture in the possession of the Right Honorable Elizabeth Lady Dowr Littleton'. A further engraving after this picture was made by Emma Smith in 1801 (see BM 1869,0213.63) with the title given as A Persian and with a different four lines of verse below: When the bright Sun displays its early ray / And tells the glories of the coming day / The Persian to the rising splendour bows / And hails the sacred object of her vows.
Maria Cosway’s husband, Richard, did not like her to paint professionally. She wrote that had he permitted it, she would have ‘made a better painter, but left to myself by degrees, instead of improving, I lost what I brought from Italy of my early studies.’
Maria Cosway’s husband, Richard, did not like her to paint professionally. She wrote that had he permitted it, she would have ‘made a better painter, but left to myself by degrees, instead of improving, I lost what I brought from Italy of my early studies.’
Provenance
Gift from the artist, 1822. A letter from Maria Cosway to John Soane dated 27 April 1822 explains that she had presented this painting to the Dowager Lady Lyttelton as a token of friendship; Lady Lyttelton then bequeathed it back to the artist in her Will; Maria Cosway then 'placed it with' her friend Mrs. George Hardinge; on her death 'the Persian came to me again' and was then presented to Soane by the artist as a token of friendship.
Literature
Soane, Description, 1830, p.15 and 38
Soane, Description, 1835, p. 20
A.T. Bolton, Portrait of Sir John Soane, 1927, p. 335
New Description, 2007, p. 31
Diane Boucher, 'Maria Cosway (1760-1838): A Commentator on modern life', The British Art Journal Vol. XVIII No. 3, Winter 2017/18, pp.78-86.
Soane, Description, 1835, p. 20
A.T. Bolton, Portrait of Sir John Soane, 1927, p. 335
New Description, 2007, p. 31
Diane Boucher, 'Maria Cosway (1760-1838): A Commentator on modern life', The British Art Journal Vol. XVIII No. 3, Winter 2017/18, pp.78-86.
Exhibition history
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1784
Soane collections online is being continually updated. If you wish to find out more or if you have any further information about this object please contact us: worksofart@soane.org.uk