Study of Trees

Study of Trees
Study of Trees
Study of Trees
Private Collection, USA / Photograph Courtesy of Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd.
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Study of Trees
Date
c.1754-56
Medium
Black chalk and stump heightened with white on grey paper
Dimensions
Metric: 515 x 375 mm
Imperial: 20 1/4 x 14 3/4 in.
Collection
Private Collection, USA (c/o Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd).
Wilson Online Reference
D241
Description
A group of trees in leaf on a steep bank rising to the left
Exhibited
London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (53); Sudbury 1991 (7)
Provenance
Cyril and Shirley Fry (purchased in the 1970s); Fry sale, Sotheby's, London, 7 July 2021 (7), bt Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd; acquired from them by Private Collection, USA, 2022.
Signature/inscription
Inscribed in a modern hand, lower right: Wilson
Two illegible words lower left
Verso inscriptions
[1] Backboard upper right, white chalk: [illegible letters] 52
Mount inscriptions
Inscription by a different old hand lower centre: Gainsborough
Labels
Verso on backboard:
[1] Upper left: four modern saleroom labels
[2] Upper right: modern saleroom label
[3] Lower right: red exhibition label
[4] Lower right: two Gainsborough's House exhibition labels
[5] Lower right: modern saleroom label
Subject
The trees may have been in the vicinity of Lake Nemi, which Wilson is known to have visited at this time. The area round it was famous for its trees.
Related Drawings
D245 'Arbra Santa' on the Banks of Lake Nemi (Study of an Ancient Tree), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Critical commentary
As Solkin has noted, this is one of Wilson's most sensitive studies of trees. The artist had made considerable progress in his command of the chalk medium by the time he left Italy. It was only towards the end of his stay that he was able to handle this chosen technique with such subtlety and refinement.
Bibliography
Solkin 1982, p. 174
Condition/Conservation
The paper has an old flattened horizontal fold about three fifths up
Updated by Compiler
2022-06-07 00:00:00