Ariccia

Ariccia
Ariccia
Ariccia
Tate, London 2014
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Ariccia
Date
c. 1754-56 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk, stump and graphite on grey prepared laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: 322 x 447 mm
Imperial: 12 11/16 x 17 5/8 in.
Accession Number
T08164
Wilson Online Reference
D261
Description
The view is from the north towards the Palazzo Chigi and Bernini's church of Santa Maria dell'Assunzione, whose twin bell-towers are shown without their onion-shaped cupolas.
Exhibited
Birmingham 1948-49 (128); London 1949 (127); Sheffield 1952 (77); London 1958 (14); National Gallery of Canada 1961 (96); Amsterdam 1965 (142); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (55); Manchester 1988 (73); London 1997 (13); Cardiff, Manchester and London, 2003-4 (17); Tercentenary 2014 (142)
Provenance
Paul Sandby; Earl of Warwick; A.G.B. Russell by 1924; A. P. Oppé, 1948; Armide Oppé; purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; no inscription
Techniques and materials
Stump has been used to soften and smudge some of the black chalk, thus creating rich areas of tone
Collectors' marks
[1] Lower left corner: Paul Sandby (Lugt 2112)
[2] Lower left corner: A.G.B. Russell (Lugt Supplément 2770a)
Subject
Located between the lakes of Nemi and Albano on the Via Appia Nuova, south-east of Rome. Ariccia was celebrated for its groves, thought to have been the hunting-grounds of the goddess Diana. The area had been a haunt of Wilson's admired predecessor, Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675). The town was acquired by the Chigi family in 1661 and in the following year they commissioned Bernini to modernise the old palace of the Savelli, Princes of Albano, and to build a new church.
Related Drawings
D261A Ariccia near Rome, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
D407 Ariccia from Lake Albano, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Related Works by Other Artists
[1] Giovanni Battista Falda (1643-1678), Veduta della Nobil Terra d'Ariccia, engraving, 1665
[2] Jonathan Skelton (c.1735-1759), View of Ariccia, c.1758, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2003.103)
[3] John Downman (1750-1824), Chigi Park near L'Ariccia, 1773-74, Tate, London (T10175)
[4] Francis Towne (1739-1816): Ariccia, 1781, The British Museum (Nn,3.14)
[5] William Pars (1742-1782): Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia, near Albano, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
[6] John 'Warwick' Smith (1749-1831): A View of Ariccia, near Albano, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
[7] John Robert Cozens (1752-1779): Ariccia, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Critical commentary
There is some doubt as to the extent of autograph work executed on the spot in this drawing. The foreground seems much more summary than the motif of the buildings and may possibly have been added in the studio at a later stage by Wilson himself or by another hand, perhaps that of Sandby.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
2358
Bibliography
The Connoisseur, July 1924, p. 141, pl. 5; Ford 1951, p. 61, no. 65; Solkin 1982, pp. 175-176; Hawcroft 1988, p. 66; Lyles & Hamlyn 1997, pp. 62-63; Sumner and Smith 2003, pp. 127-128, repr.; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 315
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Location featured in work
Ariccia, south-east of Rome, Italy
Updated by Compiler
2022-01-24 00:00:00