View of Rome and the Ponte Molle

View of Rome and the Ponte Molle
View of Rome and the Ponte Molle
View of Rome and the Ponte Molle
Private Collection / Image courtesy of Sotheby’s, London
title=Credit line
Artist
Ascribed to Wilson
Title
View of Rome and the Ponte Molle
Date
Undated
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 94 x 132.7 cm
Imperial: 37 x 52 1/4 in.
Collection
Location Unknown
Wilson Online Reference
P64B
Description
Rome is viewed from near the Ponte Molle, constructed in 109 BC, on the usual route into the city for the eighteenth-century traveller approaching from the north. The bridge, shown at an oblique angle to the left, retains the fifteenth-century guard tower since demolished. To the right, in silhouette at the summit of Monte Mario is the Villa Mellini, while nearer and lower is the Villa Madama. In the centre beyond the winding Tiber are Castel Sant' Angelo (Mausoleum of Hadrian) and St Peter's.
Exhibited
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1886, no.762
Provenance
Duke of Hamilton; Hamilton Palace sale, Christie's 8 July 1882 (1075 - Distant View of Rome: Sunset), bt Agnew (£1.050); 1904, David Jardine, High Lee, Woolton, Liverpool; his sale, Christie's 16 March 1917 (138 - A View of Ancient Rome: Sunset), bt Sulley & Co. (£63); Anon., (with Lansdowne); Christie's 7 March 1930 (104 - A View of Ancient Rome: Sunset), bt Bale (£210); Major L. Gardner; Christie's, London 18 December 1953 (75); with Montagne Bernard, 1954; Sotheby's London, 23 March 1966 (90); Anon., Sotheby's Gleneagles, Perthshire, 31 August 1967 (75), bt Frensham (£1,800); with Oscar & Peter Johnson; Sotheby's 29 November 2001 (156)
Signature/inscription
Unsigned, no inscription
Related Drawings
D172 A Roman Altar at Palestrina, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
D228 Ionic Capitals, Private Collection, England
D302 Ponte Molle, Monte Mario, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California
D329 A Wall overgrown with Plants, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Related Prints
E72/38 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, View on the Tiber with Rome in the Distance, The British Museum and other impressions
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Works by Other Artists
[1] Francis Towne (1739-1816): View on the Banks of the Tiber, watercolour, 1780, The British Museum (Nn,2.12)
[2] Francis Towne: St Peter's at Sunset, from above the Arco Oscuro, watercolour, 1781 (Nn,1.14)
[3] Francis Towne: The Ponte Molle, watercolour, 1781, The British Museum (Nn,1.20)
Critical commentary
Differs from P64 in minor details but mainly in having two thinner cypress trees at the extreme right rather than sited more centrally, and a stone altar instead of a milestone in the lower left corner. The compiler has not seen this painting, which is therefore listed as ascribed.
Bibliography
WGC, p. 220. pl. 109b (version)
Link to WG Constable Archive Record