SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL FLINT, R.A., P.R.W.S, R.S.W. (BRITISH, 1880-1969), Bien Idyll II

SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL FLINT, R.A., P.R.W.S, R.S.W. (BRITISH, 1880-1969)
Bien Idyll II
signed and dated 'W.RVSSELL FLINT/MCMXIV.' (lower right); signed in pencil 'W Russell Flint/1914' (on the reverse)
watercolor and bodycolor on paper on board
12¹⁄₄ x 9¹⁄₂ in. (31.1 x 24.1 cm.)

with Robertson & Bruce, Dundee.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 30 September 1999, lot 15.
Acquired by Ann and Gordon Getty from the above.

A. Lang, Illustrations by W. Russell Flint, Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, London, 1922, vol. II, p. 7, illustrated.

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Lot Essay

Russell Flint's illustration is from Andrew Lang's translation of Theocritus, Bion and Moschus for the Medici Society. The central female figure in the present lot is Oenone, a mountain nymph, and the first wife of Paris, the Trojan prince. Paris deserts Oenone, in favor of Queen Helen of Sparta, and leaves her on Mount Ida, along with their son Corythus. Flint tenderly captures Oenone's abandonment and distress. The caption reads, 'The herdsman bore off Helen, upon a time, and carried her to Ida, sore sorrow to Oenone.'