Nymphs Discover the Narcissus
- Artist: Thomas Stothard
- Date: exhibited 1793
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: frame: 434 x 460 x 70 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Nymphs Discover the Narcissus” by Thomas Stothard, painted in 1793. The scene pulls straight from Ovid’s *Metamorphoses*, where the young Narcissus becomes a flower after he can’t look away from his own reflection. In this work, a group of nymphs pause along a wooded riverbank, astonished to find the blooming narcissus where they just walked. Stothard, primarily known for book illustration, was beginning to make a name as a history painter in the 1790s—his reputation helped him become a full member of the Royal Academy a year after this painting first appeared there in 1793. The oil on canvas is fairly modest in size, but the composition draws the eye with the nymphs’ forward bend and the soft water pooling beside the flower. It’s a quiet, pastoral moment that highlights both nature’s beauty and the myth’s cautionary tale. The work was purchased for the collection in 1879, so you’re seeing a piece that’s been part of the public eye for well over a century.
See it in person
Nymphs Discover the Narcissus is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
