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Pompey's Bridge at Terni (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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James Gandon (1742-1823) after Wilson
Pompey's Bridge at Terni (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
1776 (undated)
Etching
Spine: 254 mm; sheet: 248 x 343 mm; plate: 184 x 257 mm
Spine: 10 in.; sheet: 9 3/4 x 13 1/2 in.; plate: 7 1/4 x 10 1/8 in.
B1977.14.21011(j)
E41
Oblique view of an old stone bridge with four figures, two reaching over the side and the others in the right foreground. Behind is a square tower with adjoining buildings and beyond, a mountain.
Acquired 1977
Lettered below the image with title and production detail: 'R. Wilson del.', 'Ja. Gandon sc.'
The architect Domenico Fontana (1543-1607) was appointed to build a new bridge at Terni to replace a dangerous older one over the River Nera. Pope Paul V inaugurated this in 1611 and his arms appear in the centre of the bridge together with inscriptions recording that the people of Terni replaced the original, ruined by age, at their own expense and named the new bridge Ponte Paolo in his honour. The bridge was rebuilt after the bombardment of the Second World War.
Terni was one of the last stops on Wilson's journey from Venice to Rome in the company of William Lock in 1751-52. (See for example D61 The Cascade at Terni, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven). However, no related drawing or painting of the bridge by Wilson is known.
Object ID: 49690
Booth Notes Doc. 7; Edwards 1808, p. 88; T.J. Mulvany, The Life of James Gandon, Esq. 1846, facsimile reprint ed. M. Craig, 1969, pp. 191-92
Bound with eleven other 'original views' in an old leather binding with 'Views of Rome' imprinted on the spine but lacking a title page. Spine of the binding: 254 mm (10 in.)
19/07/2017