Curtius Leaping into the Gulf

Curtius Leaping into the Gulf
Artist	Benjamin Robert Haydon
Year	1842
Type	Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions	304.8 cm× 213.3 cm(120.0 in× 84.0 in)
Location	Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter

Curtius Leaping into the Gulf is an 1842 history painting by the British artist Benjamin Robert Haydon. ^[1] It depicts a scene from the early Roman Republic recorded by Livy. Marcus Curtius bravely leaps into a giant hole that had opened up in the Roman Forum in an act of self-sacrifice in order to save the city. ^[2] The face of Curtius is a self-portrait of Haydon, while he used the Elgin Marbles as an inspiration for the horse. ^[3] It was displayed at the 1843 Royal Institution exhibition in London. ^[4] It was generally praised and was described by the Morning Chronicle as "the finest work of art in the exhibition". ^[5] The painting is in the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, having been acquired in 1933. ^[6]

References

1. Connell & Leask p.232
2. O'Keeffe p.433
3. O'Keeffe p.449-450
4. Carlisle p.71-72
5. O'Keeffe p.454-56
6. Art UK

Bibliography

• Carlisle, Janice. Picturing Reform in Victorian Britain. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
• Connell, Philip & Leask, Nigel (ed.) Romanticism and Popular Culture in Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
• O'Keeffe, Paul. A Genius for Failure: The life of Benjamin Robert Haydon. Random House, 2011.
• Wright, Christopher, Gordon, Catherine May & Smith, Mary Peskett. British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Yale University Press, 2006.