Dorothea
(1840s)
Medium
oil on cardboard on wood panel
Measurements
67.3 × 52.0 cm (cardboard) 69.5 X 52.0 cm (wood panel)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mrs E. Swinburne, 1941
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This painting shows the scene from Cervantes’s tale Don Quixote in which Dorothea, a fugitive in the mountains, is watched by two of the Don’s companions as she cools her feet in a brook. She wears a peasant costume as a disguise and is shown lifting her head at the noise by which the watchers betray their presence.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in red paint l.l.: W. Etty
Accession Number
1110-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Literary and Text
Subjects (specific)
barefoot brooks Don Quixote (novel, Cervantes, 1605-1615) fiction (general genre) forests (cultural landscapes) seated figures women (female humans)
Provenance
Possibly purchased by George Swinburne (1861–1928), in London, during the period 1888–1925, on the advice of Rev. W. G. Beardmore; collection of George and Ethel Swinburne, Shenton, Hawthorn, until 1928; collection of Mrs Ethel Swinburne (d. 1947), Shenton, Hawthorn, 1928–41; by whom donated to the NGV, 1941.