William Hogarth

Sigismunda Mourning over the Heart of Guiscardo

1759

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

Not on display

Artist: William Hogarth 1697–1764
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 1004 × 1265 mm
frame: 1530 × 1700 × 170 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Bequeathed by J.H. Anderdon 1879
Reference: N01046

Display caption

This painting illustrates a dramatic scene from Giovanni Boccaccio’s celebrated medieval novel, the Decameron. The heroine Sigismunda holds a golden goblet sent to her by her father, Prince Tancred. Inside, is the heart of her dead husband, Giuscardo – one of Tancred’s servants. He has murdered him, enraged by their unsuitable secret marriage.This was Hogarth’s most deliberate attempt to prove that modern English painters could handle heroic themes as convincingly as the revered Italian old masters. But the picture received such harsh criticism that he almost completely abandoned painting for the last years of his life.

Gallery label, May 2007

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Explore

emotions, concepts and ideas(16,661)
- emotions and human qualities(5,351)
- - grief(127)
  - horror(180)
interiors(4,552)
- domestic(1,813)
- - interior - non-specific(843)
literature and fiction(3,165)
- literature (not Shakespeare)(2,296)
- - Dryden, John, ‘Fables’(1)
objects(23,302)
- clothing and personal items(5,884)
- - jewellery(96)
  - veil(54)
- fine arts and music(3,760)
- - sculpture(679)
- furnishings(3,086)
- - table(763)
- kitchen(645)
- - goblet(34)
- vessels and containers(2,153)
- - box(187)
people(35,021)
- actions: expressive(2,635)
- - weeping(69)
- actions: postures and motions(9,098)
- - head in hand / hands(273)
  - sitting(3,321)
- adults(22,638)
- - man(10,387)
  - woman(9,055)
- body(4,877)
- - head / face(2,503)
  - heart(34)
- named individuals(12,478)
- - Hogarth, Jane(1)
  - Hogarth, William(11)
- portraits(4,294)
- - individuals: female(1,658)
  - self-portraits(752)
society(34,829)
- birth to death(1,439)
- - mourning(93)
- family(4,136)
- - widow(39)
work and occupations(14,053)
- arts and entertainment(6,549)
- - artist, painter(2,147)

You might like

William Hogarth Three Ladies in a Grand Interior (‘The Broken Fan’), possibly Catherine Darnley, Duchess of Buckingham with Two Ladies

c.1736
John Hamilton Mortimer George Thompson, his Wife and (?) his Sister-in-Law

c.1766–8
William Hogarth O the Roast Beef of Old England (‘The Gate of Calais’)

1748

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
William Hogarth Heads of Six of Hogarth’s Servants

c.1750–5
William Hogarth Portrait of Hannah, Daughter of John Ranby Snr

c.1748–50
William Hogarth Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Winchester

1741
William Hogarth Mrs Salter

1741
William Hogarth The Staymaker (? The Happy Marriage V: The Fitting of the Ball Gown)

c.1745
William Hogarth Portrait of George Osborne, later John Ranby Jnr

c.1748–50
William Hogarth The Painter and his Pug

1745

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
William Hogarth The Dance (The Happy Marriage ?VI: The Country Dance)

c.1745
William Hogarth James Quin, Actor

c.1739
Daniel Stringer Portrait of the Artist

1776
William Hogarth Thomas Herring, Archbishop of Canterbury

1744–7
Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn and his Mother

c.1768–9

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art