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Horace and Lydia
  • Date: 1843
  • Object Type: Painting
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Object size: 38 x 46 cm
  • Image size: 38 x 45.5 cm, painted area
  • Frame size: 75 x 84 x 12 cm
  • Inv: P340
  • Location: West Gallery III
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Description
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Further Reading
  • The Augustan poet Horace (65-8 B.C.) is shown with his mistress Lydia, to whom he addressed several of his Odes, and a servant pouring wine. He seems unable to choose between reason and passion. The subject anticipates that of Couture’s most famous painting, 'The Romans of the Decadence' (1847; Paris, Musée d’Orsay). A version of the Wallace Collection’s composition, in black and white chalks, was sold at Drouot Richelieu, Paris, 26 October 1994 (50).