Villa Emiliana near Rome

Villa Emiliana near Rome
Villa Emiliana near Rome
Villa Emiliana near Rome
Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Villa Emiliana near Rome
Date
Early 1760s (undated)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 33 x 40 cm
Imperial: 13 x 16 in.
Collection
Private Collection, England
Accession Number
BB14
Wilson Online Reference
P117
Description
An umbrella pine dominates the scene, with part of a villa on the left and a prominent stone sarcophagus in the centre. In the right background are a walled farmstead with cypresses and other trees, towards which some women are walking. A figure is attending to washing on the wooden steps at the side of the villa, other figures are beneath the pine and a man sits on the ground prominently in the right foreground. Beyond are the sea or a lake and distant mountains under a blue sky with fluffy clouds.
Exhibited
Brighton 1920 (10 - Villa Emelia); Exeter 1946 (63); Birmingham 1948-49 (27); London 1949 (26); on loan to Kenwood, 1959-60; London 1968 (1); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (91); Conwy 2009 (13); Weston 2011 (13); Gainsborough House 2014 (unnumbered)
Provenance
Paul Sandby; Benjamin Booth; Revd R.S. Booth; Lady Ford; Richard Ford; Sir Francis Clare Ford; John G. Ford; Sir Brinsley Ford; thence by descent
Subject
The site remains untraced and the scene may be imaginary, contrived from personal experience. The prominent sarcophagus at the centre foreground, its sculptural sophistication contrasting with the rustic setting, provides a note of antiquity and perhaps mortality. Benjamin Booth recorded that the painting had belonged to Paul Sandby.
Related Drawings
D223 Ascribed to Wilson, A Roman Table Support, Private Collection, England
Related Prints
E72/4 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Villa Emelia, 1820, The British Museum
E72/4A Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Villa Emelia, 1820, The British Museum
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Critical commentary
The central roundel of the sarcophagus relates to one in the garden of the Villa Medici which Wilson drew.
Bibliography
Booth Notes Doc. 5, p. 2; Booth Notes Doc. 8, p. 1; Booth Notes Doc. 9 (8); WGC, pp. 46, 90, 198-99, pl. 76b; Sutton & Clements 1968, p. 39, fig. 44; Solkin 1982, p. 204; Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 15; Williams 2011, p. 24, repr.
Updated by Compiler
2021-09-24 00:00:00