Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna [untitled]

Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna [untitled]
Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna [untitled]
Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna [untitled]
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson
Title
Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna [untitled]
Date
Published 1 August 1765
Medium
Etching on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions
Metric: 384 x 492 mm (sheet); 337 x 422 mm (plate)
Imperial: 15 1/8 x 19 3/8 in. (sheet); 13 1/4 x 16 5/8 in. (plate)
Accession Number
B1984.21.429
Wilson Online Reference
E15
Description
A traveller is shown with a dog on a road in the foreground, asking a woman who sits knitting at the roadside for directions. Further left on the bank beyond a framing tree a man drawing in or consulting an open book is watched by a standing peasant. There is a valley below and classical buildings on a peak to the right, with a bridge or aqueduct and city buildings visible across the plains. Mountains can be seen in the distance.
Exhibited
Tercentenary 2014 (85)
Provenance
Acquired 1984
Signature/inscription
Lettered lower left: 'Richd. Wilson pinxt.' [and] 'No.3.'; lower centre: 'Engraved from the Original Picture Painted by Mr Richard Wilson.'; [and] 'Publish'd according to Act of Parliament by J.BOYDELL, Engraver in Cheapside, London. Augt.1.1765.'; lower right: 'Willm. Byrne sculpt.'
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Paintings
P52 Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - I, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
P142 Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - I , Private Collection, England
P142B Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - I, Tate, London
P142C Tivoli: Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - I , Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Critical commentary
E15 was engraved by Byrne after P142B Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - I, Tate, London. The print confirms the success of Wilson's Tivoli views painted from memory and imagination in about 1765. However, the prospect is reversed in the print, though it retains the essential elements of any Tivoli view, i.e. the Temple of the Sibyl / Vesta at the summit of the cliffs, the waterfalls and the view over the Roman Campagna. An earlier version of the painting, possibly P52, was used by Wilson in Rome for his students to copy.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 20829
Bibliography
Edwards 1808, p. 88; WGC, p. 223 under pl. 115a; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 269
Link to WG Constable Archive Record