A Peasant Woman Fainting from the Bite of a Serpent thumbnail 1

A Peasant Woman Fainting from the Bite of a Serpent

Oil Painting
1831 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Eastlake lived in Rome from 1816 to 1830. The reverse of the painting bears his inscription: ‘Nina Ranieri, a young peasant woman of the Roman State, while kneeling before a chapel of the Madonna was bit by a viper: she sank into a lethargy in a short time and, it is said, died two days after.’

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleA Peasant Woman Fainting from the Bite of a Serpent (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'A Peasant Woman Fainting from the Bite of a Serpent' by Charles Lock Eastlake. British School, 1831.
Physical description
Oil on canvas depicted a woman who has fainted in the street after being bitten by a serpent. She lies in the arms of an older woman whilst a young boy looks on anxiously.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 55.9cm
  • Estimate width: 47.6cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'C L Eastlake/1831' (Signed and dated by the artist, lower right)
Credit line
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Object history
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Subjects depicted
Summary
Eastlake lived in Rome from 1816 to 1830. The reverse of the painting bears his inscription: ‘Nina Ranieri, a young peasant woman of the Roman State, while kneeling before a chapel of the Madonna was bit by a viper: she sank into a lethargy in a short time and, it is said, died two days after.’
Bibliographic reference
Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, pp. 75-76
Collection
Accession number
FA.70[O]

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Record createdJune 19, 2003
Record URL
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