Villa Negroni, Rome

Villa Negroni, Rome
Villa Negroni, Rome
Villa Negroni, Rome
Private Collection / Christie's Images Limited 2019
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Villa Negroni, Rome
Date
c.1753-54 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk heightened with white on blue-grey laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: 220 x 192 mm
Imperial: 8 5/8 x 7 9/16 in.
Collection
Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd, London
Wilson Online Reference
D404
Description
A villa and associated outbuildings stand amongst cypress and umbrella pine trees with a colossal statue on a pedestal nearby on the left. A row of smaller trees lead up to it and to their right in the foreground three figures are shown working in the field with a large container.
Exhibited
London, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co Ltd, Exhibition of English Drawings, Watercolours and Paintings 14 November-7 December 1973 (82)
Provenance
William Lock 'of Norbury', acquired from the artist; his sale, Sotheby's, London, 3-7 May 1821 (part of 377); Richard Ford (1796-1858), presumably from that sale; by descent to Captain Richard Ford; his sale, Christie's 4 June 1929; Sotheby's, 5 April 1973 (43); with Colnaghi, November 1973; Professor Eric Stanley; Christie's London, 2 July 2019 (200); with Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd, 2020
Signature/inscription
Inscribed in black chalk, lower centre: Negroni
Verso inscriptions
[1] Faded black ink, upper centre: 389 [?]
[2] Brown ink, upper right: Richard Ford
[3] Pencil, lower left corner: Pencil drawing | by Wilson
[4] Pencil lower right corner: E 601 Hxx
[5] Pencil, lower right corner: Landscape | 22 x 16 | cox
Subject
In the late 16th century Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590), while still a cardinal, bought a large estate and villa in the northern part of Rome. In 1696 it was sold to Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Negroni and became known as Villa Negroni. It was demolished in the 19th century. Research by Lowell Libson and Jonny Yarker has revealed the precise view as the hill, known as the Monte della Giustizia, which formed an important feature within the villa's gardens. It was crowned by an ancient seated figure of Rome, here shown with arm raised, holding a spear. This view, on the eastern fringes of Rome, would go on to become one frequently explored by later British artists including Richard Cooper Junior, John Robert Cozens and J.M.W. Turner.
Related Drawings
D149 A Wayside Hut,The British Museum
D230 Villa Negroni, Private Collection, England
Related Works by Other Artists
[1] Richard Cooper Junior (1740-1822): Garden of the Villa Negroni at Rome, brown ink, wash and white chalk on paper, National Galleries of Scotland
[2] Thomas Jones: An Excavation of an Antique Building in a Cava in the Villa Negroni, Rome, oil and chalk on paper, ?1777, later dated 1779, Tate, London (T03544)
[3] John Robert Cozens: In the Gardens of the Villa Negroni at Rome, watercolour, 1783, Private Collection
[4] Joseph Mallord William Turner: Villa Negroni, graphite and wash on paper, c.1794-97,
Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester (D1963.2)
Critical commentary
The drawing is likely to have been begun en plein air and worked up in the studio. A better-known drawing of the same subject from a different viewpoint is in an English private collection (D230) and another version of that is in the British Museum (D149). A drawing of the villa was sold at the Esdaile sale, Christie's, 20 March 1838 (636).
Bibliography
Ford 1951, p. 55 under cat. 27
More Information
The villa's famous gardens originally contained Bernini's great marble sculpture Neptune and Triton, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Updated by Compiler
2020-10-23 00:00:00