A Knight and Page (from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Götz von Berlichingen” )

Richard Parkes Bonington, 1802–1828, British, A Knight and Page (from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Götz von Berlichingen” ), ca. 1826

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Creator:: Richard Parkes Bonington, 1802–1828
Title:: A Knight and Page (from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Götz von Berlichingen” )
Former Title(s):: A Knight and Page (Goetz von Berlichingen and his Page George)
Date:: ca. 1826
Medium:: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:: 18 1/4 x 15 inches (46.4 x 38.1 cm), Frame: 23 1/2 × 20 1/2 × 2 3/4 inches (59.7 × 52.1 × 7 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1981.25.52
Classification:: Paintings
Collection:: Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:: B1981.25.52FR
Subject Terms:: banner | boy | brown | costume | crest | flag | Götz von Berlichingen (1773), drama by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) | knight (landholder) | literary theme | man | red | servant | skirts (garments) | stairs | steps | swords | yellow
Associated People:: Berlichingen, Götz von (1480–1562), German
Access:: Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:564
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From September 1825 to January 1826, Richard Parkes Bonington shared the Paris studio of his friend, the French romantic painter Eugène Delacroix. During that time, and under Delacroix’s influence, Bonington—highly regarded for his landscapes—expanded his repertoire to include historical genre subjects. In this scene, based loosely on Goethe’s tragedy, the mercenary knight Götz von Berlichingen is attended by a servant and stands in profile at the top of a stair. His right arm is obscured, as the historical Götz wore an iron prosthesis after losing his right hand and lower arm to cannon fire. The artist based the features of Götz on Andrea del Verrocchio’s famous equestrian statue of the condottiere (mercenary leader) Bartolomeo Colleoni, which Bonington had studied in Venice in summer 1826. He probably painted this picture the following autumn and gave it to Delacroix, who then bequeathed it to Baron Charles Rivet, Bonington’s patron and traveling companion in Italy.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016

Richard Parkes Bonington 2018 (Richard L. Feigen & Co., 2018-10-23 - 2019-01-09) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Delacroix's Influence: The Rise of Modern Art from Cézanne to van Gogh (The National Gallery, London, 2016-02-17 - 2016-05-22) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Delacroix's Influence: The Rise of Modern Art from Cézanne to van Gogh (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2015-10-18 - 2016-01-10) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Constable to Delacroix : British Art and the French Romantics 1820-1840 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003-09-29 - 2004-01-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Constable to Delacroix : British Art and the French Romantics 1820-1840 (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2003-06-01 - 2003-08-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Constable to Delacroix : British Art and the French Romantics 1820-1840 (Tate Britain, 2003-02-06 - 2003-05-11) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Richard Parkes Bonington (Musée du Petit Palais, 1992-03-05 - 1992-05-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Richard Parkes Bonington (Yale Center for British Art, 1991-11-13 - 1992-01-19) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

David Blayney Brown, Paris, Petit Palais - Bonington, Burlington Magazine, v 134, no. 1070, May, 1992, fig. 55, N1 B87 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 24-25, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Patrick Noon, Crossing the Channel : British and French painting in the age of romanticism, Tate Publishing, London, p. 133, ND467.5.R6 N66 2003 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Patrick Noon, Delacroix and the rise of modern art, National Gallery Company, London, 2015, pp. 21, 102, 184, 186-87, no. 52, NJ18.D37 N66 2015 (LC) Oversize (HAAS) [ORBIS]

Patrick Noon, Richard Parkes Bonington : "On the pleasure of painting", , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1991, p. 230-31..., NJ18 B65 N66 1991 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , 1,2, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 201 (v.1), no. 385, pl. 20, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 69 (v.1), no. 249, ND466 R68 1964/65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 4 (v.1), no. 14, ND466 Y35 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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