Ponte Nomentano

Ponte Nomentano
Ponte Nomentano
Ponte Nomentano
Tate, London 2014
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Ponte Nomentano
Date
Dated 1754
Medium
Graphite, black and white chalk and stump on grey laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: 287 x 422 mm
Imperial: 11 5/16 x 16 5/8 in.
Accession Number
T03026
Wilson Online Reference
D318
Description
This is a close-up view of the bridge seen in the distance of D316 The Via Nomentana, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. Jonathan Yarker reports that, like the bridge itself, the house on the right still survives.
Exhibited
Birmingham 1948-49 (89); London 1949 (88); Rome 1959 (669); London, Cardiff and New Haven 1982-83 (49); Tercentenary 2014 (68)
Provenance
Commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801) in Rome in 1753; by descent until lost; rediscovered by Lady Dartmouth, Patshull House, Wolverhampton 1948; 8th Earl of Dartmouth; Christie's 29 January 1954 (22); bt Thomas Agnew & Sons, London; purchased by Tate Gallery, London, 1980
Signature/inscription
See 'Mount Inscriptions'
Verso inscriptions
Inscribed: 32
Mount inscriptions
[1] Signed in black ink on coloured border, lower left corner: R. Wilson f. 1754.
[2] Inscribed on cartellino in black ink , lower centre: Ponte | Nomentano [the last 'o' changed from an 'a']
[3] Inscribed in graphite on coloured border, lower right corner: No. 20
Subject
The Ponte Nomentano, which combines a Roman arch with a medieval tower, is three miles north east of Rome and carries the Via Nomentana across the River Aniene before it flows into the Tiber.
Related Drawings
D316 The Via Nomentana, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
Related Works by Other Artists
Joseph Wright of Derby, A View of the Ponte Nomentano, near Rome, 1774 and later, Derby Museum and Art Gallery (1950-126)
Critical commentary
One of a major series of drawings commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801) iin 1754, of which 25 are known to survive. The Dartmouth set is the most important group of the artist's finished compositions on paper. Originally numbering 68, the drawings were highly prized by the earl and much admired by connoisseurs and artists of the day including William Lock of Norbury, and the artists John Hoppner and Joseph Farington. Hoppner said of them, 'they were such as the Greeks would have made & put all others at a distance' and Farington was almost certainly referring to them when he characterised Wilson's drawings as having 'all the qualities of his pictures except the colour.' Drawings from the set are distinguished by a white mount with lilac wash border, on which the artist attached a small white label, bearing the title of the work. As Robin Simon has noted, in making such records of specific locations around Rome, Wilson swiftly developed one of his most important skills - the creation of a coherent and evocative composition in front of an accurately recorded scene. His ability to shape an open view through balance and variation, without benefit of framing devices such as trees, would later find a logical application in such highly original works as D360 A View of Hounslow Heath, London, Private Collection, UK, c/o Lowell Libson Ltd.
Bibliography
Farington Diary, vol. 7, p. 2775 (1 June 1806); Farington Biographical Note p. 12; Ford 1948, p. 345, no. 20; Ford 1951, p. 61, no. 62; The Tate Gallery Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions 1978-90 , London, 1981, pp. 48-50; Solkin 1982, pp. 171-172; Clark & Bowron 1985, p. 267 under cat. 195; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 255
Location featured in work
The Ponte Nomentana, Rome
More Information
This is one of 20 views of the environs of Rome referred to by Thomas Jenkins a letter dated 1 June 1754. Of these only no. 1 is missing from the serial numbers recorded in the lower right corner of each. All the Dartmouth drawings have numbers in graphite on the back, ranging (with gaps) from 23 to 61, thus supporting the total of 68 given by Farington. The mounts of all the surviving Dartmouth drawings, with their lilac wash borders, were made by Wilson or under his direction, perhaps by Jenkins.
Condition/Conservation
Laid down on fawn paper with original lilac border
Updated by Compiler
2019-10-09 00:00:00