Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 23(v) and 24(r)

Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 23(v) and 24(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 23(v) and 24(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 23(v) and 24(r)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 23(v) and 24(r)
Date
1754
Medium
Graphite with black and white chalk on medium, rough, blued white wove paper
Dimensions
Metric: 281 x 210 mm (each sheet)
Imperial: 11 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. (each sheet)
Accession Number
B1977.14.359 v23 & r24
Wilson Online Reference
D280/23
Description
23(v): Blank
24(r): Two studies of a statue of Ceres wearing a thin sleeveless chiton and a long narrow mantle set upon a circular altar
Provenance
Oldfield Bowles; given to Sir George Beaumont, 1784; thence by descent until 1963, when sold to Paul Mellon
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; no inscription
Subject
24(r): A badly damaged Roman luna marble statue of a girl restored as Ceres, goddess of the corn-bearing earth and agriculture, It dates probably from the third or second century AD. and stands upon a circular altar in Greek marble reworked along the upper rim. The latter is adorned with four bucrania, from the horns of which hang fillets and garlands of leaves, flowers and fruit. Above the garlands are ewers (urcei) and flat dishes used for offerings (paterae).
Critical commentary
Clements identified and reproduced the sculpture and base and noted that the statue was transferred from the Stanza del Gladiatore to the Galleria of the Museo Capitolino before 1736. During the 18th century it stood upon the base depicted but this is now in the Stanza del Gladiatore.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 6363
Bibliography
Sutton & Clements 1968, vol. 1, pp. 22-23; vol. 2, p. 42
More Information
Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D280-D280/33) and D53-D53/81 Studies and Designs by R. Wilson done in Rome in the Year MDCCLII, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.3586-1922).