Lot 149: Benjamin Robert Haydon (Plymouth 1786-1846 London)

Benjamin Robert Haydon (Plymouth 1786-1846 London) Study for the head of Uriel for 'Satan and Uriel' indistinctly signed and inscribed ' Study from Antique/for Sat [an]/to guide if after/they must .../..../B Haydon' (lower right) pencil and black chalk heightened with touches of white 16 1/8 x 12 1/8 in. (41 x 30.6 cm.)

41 x 30.6 cm.

Leonard G. Duke.

The present striking drawing of Uriel revealing himself to Satan, certainly shows the influence of Fuseli, under whom Haydon studied. Haydon was said to have been transfixed as a child by an engraving of this subject by Fuseli. He was was very pleased with the finished work, thinking the archangel's head the finest thing he had ever done. The present drawing suggests that the initial sketches were done from the Antique. The oil painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1845, no. 605 is now lost, although there was an engraving after it published in the Illustrated London News. However, it was almost certainly painted on a grandscale as was Haydon’s manner. In the scene from Milton’s Paradise Lost Satan is disguised as a 'stripling cherub having just deceived Uriel, Regent of the Sun, into directing him to earthly paradise, he glances back furtively at the gigantic figure of the archangel'. The painting was puchased by Haydon’s patron Edward Dennys.