The Ruined Temple

The Ruined Temple
The Ruined Temple
The Ruined Temple
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Charles Cousen (c. 1819-1889) after Wilson
Title
The Ruined Temple
Date
Published March 1854
Medium
Steel engraving
Dimensions
Metric: 252 x 338 mm
Imperial: 9 15/16 x 13 5/16 in.
Accession Number
1872,1012.2168
Wilson Online Reference
E91
Description
The Sedia del Diavolo near the Via Nomentana is seen in the centre, with a dismounted figure attending to his saddlebag before it as his donkey brays in the evening sunlight. His staff rests against a large antique stone fragment in the left foreground. To the right are a seated woman with a babe in arms and a naked child. The scene is framed by a tree and saplings to the left and a cliff with foliage to the right; in the background are a silhouetted tower on a hill and distant mountains.
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image with the title and 'R. WILSON, R.A. PAINTER.' | 'C. COUSEN, ENGRAVER.'; 'FROM THE PICTURE IN THE VERNON GALLERY.'; 'SIZE OF THE PICTURE. | 2 FT. 6 IN. BY 1 FT. 10 1/2 IN.' 'PRINTED BY G. VIRTUE.' | publication details: 'LONDON, PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS.'
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Paintings
P68 Classical Landscape with Venus, Adonis and Cupids, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
P104 Strada Nomentana - I, Tate, London (the Vernon painting)
Critical commentary
This print was an illustration to an accompanying anonymous article, 'The Vernon Gallery' in The Art Journal (see also E83, E85 and E88). In 1854 it featured with a two-page text in S.C. Hall's 3-volume catalogue of the Vernon Gallery (see Bibliography).
Bibliography
The Art Journal, new series vol. 6, March 1854, p. 76; S.C. Hall ed., The Vernon Gallery, vol. 3, 1854, no. 30 (unpaginated).
More Information
Charles Cousen painted portraits as well as engraving and some were exhibited at the Society of British Artists and the Suffolk Street Gallery in 1848. From about 1850 he produced numerous engravings for the Art Journal including illustrations of the Turner and Vernon Galleries. He also executed prints after Wilson, Stothard, Sidney Cooper, Constable, Landseer and other landscapists. His brother, John (1804-1880), was an equally established engraver.
Condition/Conservation
Poor condition, with disfiguring staining round the edges
Updated by Compiler
2018-03-09 00:00:00