Entrance to the Cuniculo

Entrance to the Cuniculo
Entrance to the Cuniculo
Entrance to the Cuniculo
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Ascribed to Wilson
Title
Entrance to the Cuniculo
Date
c.1752-56 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk, touched with white, on grey-buff paper
Dimensions
Metric: 266 x 282 mm
Imperial: 10 1/2 x 11 1/8 in.
Accession Number
Oo,5.6
Wilson Online Reference
NWD108
Description
Two figures, one with a staff, are seen coming from the right and are about to descend into a tunnel, which opens in the face of a rocky cliff. Light is coming from the right, the foreground cast into a shadow by an arch of rock, tufted with plants.
Provenance
Bequeathed by Richard Payne Knight, 1824
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; inscribed in ink in the upper margin: the Immediate Entrance into the Cuniculo which descends to the Emissario
Verso inscriptions
Verso invisible - the primary support is laid down
Subject
The tunnel was made by the Romans in AD 52 in order to drain the Lacus Fucius
Critical commentary
Pace the setting and the provenance the drawing style argues against Wilson himself as the artist, nor is the inscription in his hand. This is one of several drawings of the Emissario and its environs by the same hand (see also NWD107 Outlet of the Emissario and NWD108/1 The First Entrance to the Cuniculo, both in the British Museum and with the same provenance).
Bibliography
Binyon 31
Condition/Conservation
Very good condition