Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752…

Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752…
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752…
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752…
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 3: The Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome
Date
1752
Medium
Black chalk on white paper
Dimensions
Metric: 188 x 130 mm (volume: 203 x 143 mm)
Imperial: 8 x 5 5/8 in.
Accession Number
E.3586-1922
Wilson Online Reference
D53/3
Description
The papal fortress of Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome, surmounted by a cross and with an adjoining wall to the right, is seen from across the River Tiber. To the left a boat with two figures on board seems almost becalmed and there is larger shipping in the background.
Provenance
Bt about 1922 from Miss Alice J. Bowles
Signature/inscription
Numbered below the image lower right: 2
Page numbered upper right corner: 3
Subject
The Castel Sant'Angelo was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. Constructed on the right bank of the Tiber from 134-139 AD, the building, once the tallest in Rome, was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle. According to legend the Archangel Michael appeared above it, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590 AD. In 1753, the year after this drawing was made, a new statue of the archangel, executed by the Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt (1710-1793), was installed on the top of the building.
Related Drawings
D119 The Castle of Sant' Angelo, Rome, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
D119A The Castle of St Angelo, Rome, Tate, London
Related Prints
E60/17A John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: Castle of St Angelo, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
E60/18 John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: View of a Bridge with Castel Sant'Angelo behind, The British Museum
E60/18A John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: View of a Bridge with Castel Sant'Angelo behind, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Critical commentary
Wilson's commitment to landscape made soon after his arrival in Rome in late 1751 initiated a sustained burst of activity as a draughtsman which was to gain momentum over the next few years. One major piece of evidence for the seriousness with which he took his new career is provided by the pages of this surviving sketchbook from 1752. Although it contains a number of rapid sketches from nature and the antique, most of its leaves are filled with imaginary essays in landscape design, usually incorporating classical themes such as antique ruins but presented in a rococo manner, and, as noted by Solkin, 'using lazy curving forms and often capricious combinations of architectural motifs in a way that still recalls the works of Zuccarelli.' Increasingly, however, Wilson came to adopt a more naturalistic style.
Bibliography
Solkin 1982, pp. 152, 157
More Information
Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D53-D53/81) and D280-D280/33 Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 1754, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Updated by Compiler
2017-09-25 00:00:00