Atalanta and Milanion (detail of the fresco painting Atlanta's Race) thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Atalanta and Milanion (detail of the fresco painting Atlanta's Race)

Fresco
1922 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Detail of a fresco illustrating the Greek mythological couple, Atalanta, an Arcadian princess, and her husband Milanion (also known as Hippomenes). The are portrayed half length, wearing revealing robes. Atalanta is looking off to the viewer's left and Milanion has his gaze fixed upon her face.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleAtalanta and Milanion (detail of the fresco painting <i>Atlanta's Race</i>) (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Fresco
Brief description
Fresco entitled 'Atalanta and Milanion' (detail of the fresco painting Atlanta's Race) by John Dickson Batten. Great Britain, 1922.
Physical description
Detail of a fresco illustrating the Greek mythological couple, Atalanta, an Arcadian princess, and her husband Milanion (also known as Hippomenes). The are portrayed half length, wearing revealing robes. Atalanta is looking off to the viewer's left and Milanion has his gaze fixed upon her face.
Dimensions
  • Approx. height: 35.75in
  • Approx. width: 39.75in
  • Frame dimensions height: 98cm
  • Frame dimensions width: 107cm
Dimensions taken from Summary catalogue of British Paintings, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973
Marks and inscriptions
'J D BATTEN AUG 29: 1922' (Signed and dated by the artist)
Object history
Purchased, 1923

Historical significance: After attending Trinity College, Cambridge, John Dixon Batten (1860-1932) first went into the law, entering the Inner Temple in 1884. However, he soon abandoned law for art, and went to study at the Slade School of Fine Art under Alphonse Legros. Batten exhibited at the fashionable Grosvenor Gallery in 1886 and 1887, at the New Gallery from 1888 and the Royal Academy from 1891. He worked as a book illustrator, mostly illustrating collections of fairy stories, and became one of the leading members of the fresco revival of the early 20th century.

Batten was a founder member in 1901 (with Joseph Southall, William Holman Hunt and Walter Crane) of the Society of Painters in Tempera (renamed the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera in 1912), and for twenty years its Secretary. Between 1921 and 1925 Batten wrote a number of articles on the technical aspects of tempera painting: in the Papers of the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera, he wrote on the application of gilding, on the qualities of lime putty, on experiments in fresco by students and on his attempts at using Minoan plaster. He also published 'The Practice of Tempera Painting', in The Studio in 1922 (Volume XXXIV) and 'Modern Craftsmanship: 3. - Fresco Painting' in The Architects' Journal, April 25, 1923. (Copies of all articles in artist's file.)

This is a detail of Batten's tempera painting of ca.1905, Atalanta's Race (private collection). In Greek mythology the huntress Atalanta, daughter of King Schoeneus of Scyros, vowed that she would only marry a man able to beat her in a race. Many suitors accepted the challenge, but losing perished. However, Milanion, otherwise known as Hippomenes, brought three golden apples with him which, during the race, he dropped in Atalanta's path, and which she was unable to resist picking up. Having distracted her, Milanion won the race and claimed his bride. Batten made this replica, which shows the two principal figures in the composition, as a sample of fresco painting for an exhibition of decorative mural painting held at the Royal Academy in 1923. The replica was illustrated in Batten's article 'Modern Craftsmanship: 3. - Fresco Painting', published in The Architects' Journal, April 25, 1923.

This work was purchased in 1923 'as an example of technique' (Victoria and Albert Museum, Review of the Principal Acquisitions during the Year 1923, p. 37).
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
P.17-1923

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Record createdApril 30, 2007
Record URL
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