Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 39

Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 39
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 39
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 39
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. 39
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
D53/39
Description
View of a castle on a wooded hill in the middle distance, with a path running through fields and winding up to it from the left. The view is framed by the corners of houses in the foreground
Provenance
Bt about 1922 from Miss Alice J. Bowles
Signature/inscription
Inscribed by Wilson centre right below image: 'Rocca Secca'
Page numbered upper right corner: 39
Subject
The view is of the hilltop castle of the Counts of Aquino taken from the lower town of Roccasecca, near Frosinone, south-east of Rome and the birthplace of St Thomas Aquinas.
Related Prints
E60/27 John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: View of a Castle on a wooded Hill, The British Museum
Related Paintings
P69 Ego fui in Arcadia, Private Collection, England
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 this and other pages of the 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