PE00294

'Seen from a well-known point of view not very far below the point where the tributary joins the main river.' The river extends from the left foreground to the centre middle distance and is bordered on both sides by trees and bushes. At a bend in the middle distance there is a cottage and in a field to the left, cows are grazing. A tree in the right foreground extends its branches nearly halfway across the picture. The direction seems to be downstream, towards the northwest, Chester and the distant hills of Wales. The setting may be partly imaginary, however, as the mood is one of evening which the direction of the sun does not support. Three figures appear in the foreground.

R. Mortimer, Esq.; Sir Audley Nield; Sir John Nield; L. W. Nield, Grittleton House, near Chippenham, Wiltshire; Christie's 9 June 1944 (34 - A View on the Tiber: Sunset), bt Koetser, 13 Duke Street, St James's, London, S.W.1; Sotheby Parke Bernet, London 30 April 1980 (217); bt by the National Library of Wales, 1980

The cows to the left are painted impressionistically and the figures are uncharacteristic for Wilson.

[1] Upper horizontal stretcher bar, left end, inverted, black ink: PE 294
[2] Upper left vertical turnover of lining canvas, pencil: 15 11 86

[1] Lower horizontal stretcher bar, left, old typed label: A View on the Tiber Sunset / by Richard Wilson. / Provenance: R. Mortimer, Esq. / Provenance: Sir Audley Nield. / Exhibited: Grosvenor Gallery 1889. - No. 19.
[2] Lower horizontal stretcher bar, right, inverted round label: 3361
[3] Lower horizontal stretcher bar, right: illegible torn oval label
[4] Frame verso lower left corner: old museum label giving title as 'View on the Tiber, Sunset'
[5] Frame verso lower left: old museum label for 'The Artist's Journey through North Wales' exhibition (undated)

 

E25 Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, The British Museum & other impressions
E71/1 John Young after Wilson, View on the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, The British Museum

P111 The Valley of the Dee with Chester in the Distance, The National Gallery, London

 

WGC, p. 174, pl. 34a, type II (version 2)

 

Viewed out of the frame. Kate Lowry has noted: Relined with wax-resin adhesive onto cotton duck, loose-lined with a brown muslin. Stretched onto liner's stretcher. Original turnovers removed at time of lining. Ground not visible but a dark, almost black layer appears to underlie all of the paint surface. This is possibly previous paint or even perhaps a photographic layer. The crude pink underpainting of foliage against the sky at centre right and the unusual detail in the face of the main figure suggest strongly that this is a copy after Wilson.