Solitude

Solitude
Solitude
Solitude
National Museum Wales, Cardiff
title=Credit line
Artist
William Woollett (1735-1785) and William Ellis (1747-1810) after Wilson
Title
Solitude
Date
1777
Medium
Etching and engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: 552 x 441 mm
Imperial: 21 3/4 x 17 3/8 in.
Accession Number
NMW A 11004
Wilson Online Reference
E44
Description
A sheltered pool is shown surrounded by rocky banks with a weeping willow on the left. There are two monks on the bank to the right, one sitting against a tree reading, and other monks can be seen praying around a cross erected in front of a small building, almost hidden in a forest in the background.
Provenance
Given by Major F. Treharne James, 1920
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image:
[1] Lower left: Richd. Wilson pinxt.
[2] Lower right: Etched by W. Woollett and W. Ellis 1777
Collectors' marks
[1] Unidentified mark lower right centre next to lettering
Subject
Later states have lines from James Thomson's The Seasons: Summer added (1730 edition, lines 439-447, slightly modified ; 1746 edition, lines 513-521; later editions, lines 516-524):

'Still let me pierce into the midnight Depth
Of yonder Grove, of wildest, largest Growth:
That, forming high in Air a woodland Quire,
Nods o'er the Mount beneath. At every Step,
Solemn, and slow, the Shadows blacker fall,
And all is awful listening Gloom around.
These are the Haunts of Meditation,
These the Scenes Where antient Bards th'inspiring Breath,
Extatic, felt: and from this World retir'd'.
Related Drawings
D359 Solitude, Study for a Picture, c.1762, The British Museum (1881,0212.3)
Related Prints
E57 Christian Duttenhofer after Wilson,Solitude, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Paintings
P114 Solitude - I, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
P114A Solitude - I, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
P114B Solitude - I , Private Collection Ireland
P115 Wilson and Studio, Solitude - II, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Critical commentary
The composition is very close indeed to that of the Duttenhofer print E57.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Old Accession Number: 20.490
1920.4 Gift
Bibliography
Booth Notes Doc. 4; Booth Notes Doc. 7; Edwards 1808, p. 88; Fagan 1885, p. 45, cat. XCIX, 2nd State
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Condition/Conservation
2nd state - before main lettering