Sion Park and House on Thames from Richmond Gardens

Sion Park and House on Thames from Richmond Gardens
Sion Park and House on Thames from Richmond Gardens
Sion Park and House on Thames from Richmond Gardens
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Thomas Hastings after Wilson
Title
Sion Park and House on Thames from Richmond Gardens
Date
Published 1 December 1821
Medium
Etching on chine collé
Dimensions
Metric: 182 x 233 mm
Imperial: 7 1/8 x 9 3/16 in.
Accession Number
1854,0708.70
Wilson Online Reference
E72/13
Description
View of Syon Park and House from the opposite bank of the Thames, with figures seated and standing under trees on a hillock in the foreground at the right, while others are seen on the grassy bank to the left
Provenance
Bought from George Willis, Piazza, Covent Garden, 1854
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image with the title, and above: 'The Original is in the Possession of Lady Ford.'; production details and publication line: 'Painted by R. Wilson' ' Etched by T.Hastings | and publd. in London 1. | Decr 1821'
Subject
Syon House, situated on the banks of the Thames near Brentford, had been in the possession of the Percy family since 1604. The Earl of Northumberland (created duke in October 1766) embarked on a scheme of fitting up the apartments in the grandest classical manner in 1762. This refurbishment, not fully realised, took seven years, during which time the park surrounding the house was refashioned by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. Robert Adam's designs for the remodelling of the interior were published as vol. 1 of his Works in Architecture in 1773. However, there is no evidence of any ducal patronage of Wilson and this scene was probably intended as generic rather than as the portrait of a private estate.
Related Paintings
P88 Syon House from Richmond Gardens - I, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Neue Pinakothek, Munich and other versions
Critical commentary
From a series of forty etchings after paintings by Richard Wilson and additional title page, bound in a volume in red tooled leather with gold decorative border, lettered on the spine with 'Wilson's | Etchings | by | Hastings'; the title page lettered in black and red: 'Etchings, | from the Works | of | [ facsimile of signature below portrait] Ric. Wilson / with Some Memoirs of his Life, &c. | by Thomas Hastings, Esq. | Collector of His Majesty's Customs. | "Non Ductus Officio Sed Amore Operis." Quintillian. | Published by Hurst, Robinson & Co. Cheapside, London. | Johnson, Typ. Apollo Press, 1825. Brook Street, Holborn'; containing twenty pages of Introductory and Concluding Remarks by the etcher, including descriptions of Richard Wilson's original paintings.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
PPA324368
Bibliography
Hastings 1825, p. 17 [View on the Thames], repr.; WGC, p. 185 under pl. 54b; Yule 2015, pp. 60 & 69
More Information
George Willis was an antiquarian book dealer, who occasionally published books and prints. His firm was active from 1832-1856 and sold many prints to the British Museum. In 1856 it merged with Thomas Sotheran to become Willis & Sotheran.
Updated by Compiler
2015-12-09 00:00:00