Not on display
- Artist
- Frank Auerbach born 1931
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 1079 × 1079 mm
frame: 1234 × 1234 × 83 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by the executors of the estate of David Wilkie 1993
- Reference
- T06688
Display caption
This portrait of the nineteenth century French poet Rimbaud was the result of a commission from David Wilkie, a collector who owned a number of Auerbach's paintings. Auerbach was initially asked for a painting based on the sculpture 'Ecstasy of St Teresa' by the Renaissance master Bernini. Wilkie had seen this work (in the Cornaro chapel in the church of S. Maria Vittoria in Rome) during an army posting in Italy at the end of the Second World War. However, when Auerbach declined this commission, Wilkie instead asked for a portrait of Rimbaud, whose poetry he admired. Auerbach responded by transplanting a portrait of Rimbaud into the setting of the Cornaro chapel in place of the Bernini sculpture.
Gallery label, September 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- abstraction(9,852)
-
- from recognisable sources(4,484)
- formal qualities(12,564)
-
- gestural(767)
- individuals: male(1,856)
- Italy(4,478)
You might like
-
Frank Auerbach Rimbaud
1976 -
Frank Auerbach Study after Titian II
1965 -
Frank Auerbach J.Y.M. Seated No. 1
1981 -
Frank Auerbach The Sitting Room
1964 -
Frank Auerbach Bacchus and Ariadne
1971 -
Frank Auerbach Study after Titian I
1965 -
Frank Auerbach Figure on a Bed
1967–70 -
Frank Auerbach Head of E.O.W. I
1960 -
Frank Auerbach To the Studios
1979–80 -
Frank Auerbach To the Studios
1990–1 -
Frank Auerbach David
1989 -
Frank Auerbach The Origin of the Great Bear
1967–8 -
Frank Auerbach Primrose Hill
1967–8 -
Frank Auerbach Michael
1990 -
Frank Auerbach Head of G.B.
1967