ΦΑΙΝΟΜΑΙ ΑΠΝΟΥΣ (I Seem to Be Breathless)

1784

Henry Tresham

Associated Names
Henry Tresham

Artist, Irish, 1751 - 1814

The image shows a person reclining on a sloped surface. They are in a lounging posture, leaning back on their left arm and holding a lyre with their right arm raised and bent at the elbow. The person has delicate features, long curly hair, and is dressed in a classical-style robe. The background includes a tree, hills, and trees with a partly cloudy sky.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching and aquatint printed in brown and gray on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    William B. O'Neal Fund

  • Dimensions

    plate: 28.7 × 21.5 cm (11 5/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
    sheet: 43.1 × 32.5 cm (16 15/16 × 12 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2016.171.1.14

  • Series Title

    Le Avventure di Saffo (The Adventures of Sappho)

Associated Artworks

See all 20 artworks

Title Page

Henry Tresham

1784

The image depicts a page with an illustration of an ancient-style profile portrait medallion, featuring the bust and head of a person with defined facial features facing left. The person has a nose, cheekbones, and chin, with hair styled in a classical Greek fashion, tied with a band. Above the portrait, the text "Le Avventure di SAFFO" is inscribed in a decorative font. Below the medallion, there are lines of smaller text in Italian. The background has an aged paper texture with scattered spots. The location is listed as "ROMA," and the date is in Roman numerals "MDCCLXXVIII," which translates to 1784.

Le Avventure di Saffo (The Adventures of Sappho)

Henry Tresham

1784

Text Page

Henry Tresham

1784

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Visconti Collection? (see Inscriptions). (Hill-Stone Incorporated, Dartmouth, MA); purchased 2016 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2021

  • Aquatint: From Its Origins to Goya, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2021 - 2022.

Bibliography

2021

  • Hoisington, Rena. Aquatint: From Its Origins to Goya. Washington, 2021: 149, fig. 2.

Inscriptions

lower center in plate:ΦΑΙΝΟΜΑΙ ΑΠΝΟΥΣ [phainomai apnous]

Wikidata ID

Q77259948

You may be interested in

Loading Results