Echo Flying from Narcissus

between 1795 and 1798

Guy Head English, 1753-1800

On View

British, Level 3, South Wing

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About the Artwork

Guy Head illustrates the story of Echo from Greek mythology. Echo was a nymph who entertained the goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus, with long stories so that he could pursue other nymphs. Hera punished Echo by making her body disappear and condemning her voice only to repeat words spoken by others. Here Head shows us the full-figured Echo floating weightlessly against a meticulously painted ideal landscape. She is leaving this beautiful world, soon to become only a voice.

Title Echo Flying from Narcissus

Artwork Date between 1795 and 1798

Artist Guy Head

Life Dates 1753-1800

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. English

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 83 1/2 × 64 1/4 inches (212.1 × 163.2 cm) Framed: 96 7/8 × 77 1/2 × 5 1/4 inches (246.1 × 196.9 × 13.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Acquisitions Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 78.70

Markings

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Provenance

1978, (Julian Hartnoll, London, England);
1978-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Pressly, Nancy L. "Guy Head and his Echo Flying from Narcissus: A British Artist in Rome in the 1790s." Bulletin of the DIA 60, no. 3/4 (1982): pp. 68-79, (cover ill.).

Gunn, A. "Guy Head's 'Venus and Juno.'" Burlington Magazine (August 1991): pp. 510-513 (fig. 32).

Thieme-Becker. Allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon 1907-1950, vol. 16. 1992, pp. 187-188.

Wissman, F.W. European Vistas: Cultural Landscapes. Detroit, 2000, p. 29 (ill.).

Virgilio, C. Art in Italia 1780/1930. Rome, 2001, p. 28.

Vedovato, L. Villa Farsetti, nella storia II. Venice, 2004, p. 175, 180, (ill.); p. 176 (fig. 187).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Guy Head, Echo Flying from Narcissus, between 1795 and 1798, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Acquisitions Fund, 78.70.