Wilson described the essence of this view as 'the scenery taken from the long famed [Temple of] Clitumnus, near the once mystic temple of Juno which I have herein restored from its state in ruins, as seen near the source gently cascading into the streamlet, from whence flows that classic river. The period of time described produces the effects of those lights which succeeds the dawn of day, interspersed with the vapours and subdued tints that accompany the morning atmosphere.' The actual setting is a temple supposedly once the sanctuary of the of Clitumnus, near Spoleto in Umbria, which was converted into a Christian church in the 4th century A.D. It stands besides the source of a spring from which rises the river also known as Clitumnus.

Probably James Paine; his sale, Christie's 14 June 1814 (82) along with the Bridge at Rimini (83); Mr Gray of Leadenhall Street; John Hawkins (c.1758-1841), Bignor Park, Sussex; his son, John Heywood Hawkins; Christopher Henry Thomas Hawkins, 10 Portland Place London; his executors' sale Christie's 11 May 1896 (27), bt McLean (£20); by 1948 Thomas Walter Bacon (1863-1950); F.T. Bacon; Sotheby's 14 June 2001 (8), bt Richard L. Feigen, New York

 

 

 

 

E8 Giuseppe Vasi after Wilson, Veduta del Tempio, e Fiume del Clitunno nello Stato presente, The British Museum

 

 

Perhaps Brettingham Account Book, p. 42; WGC, pp. 82, 109, 197, pl. 75b; Feigen 2010, unpaginated