Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 25(v) and 26(r)

Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 25(v) and 26(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 25(v) and 26(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 25(v) and 26(r)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 25(v) and 26(r)
Date
1754
Medium
Black chalk heightened with white on medium, rough, blued white wove paper, bound in vellum
Dimensions
Metric: 281 x 210 mm (each sheet)
Imperial: 11 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. (each sheet)
Accession Number
B1977.14.359 v25 & r26
Wilson Online Reference
D280/25
Description
A circular altar dedicated to Hercules, decorated in relief with clubs, their handles connected with wreaths of oak and tied with ribbons. Below to the left is a scene of Hercules, carrying a club in his left hand and leading Cerberus; to the right is a two-handled cup adorned with vine leaves.
Provenance
Oldfield Bowles; given to Sir George Beaumont, 1784; thence by descent until 1963, when sold to Paul Mellon
Signature/inscription
26(r): Inscribed in black chalk:
[1] Upper right: in ye Capitol.
[2] On plinth: HERCULES
Subject
Clements identified this study as of a circular altar, made of Pentelic marble in the Museo Capitolino, Rome. The foot and cornice are modern. It is decorated in relief with four clubs, connected with wreaths of oak and tied with ribbons. Figures or objects appear in the fields below, of which two are illustrated. A lengthy inscription declares that it was dedicated to Hercules Victor by C. Ulpius Fronto during the consulship of L. Vettius Paullo and T. Junius Montanus.
Critical commentary
During the 18th century the altar stood in the Galleria of the Capitoline Museum, serving as the base for a seated male statue, where Wilson must have drawn it.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 6363
Bibliography
Sutton & Clements 1968, vol. 1, pp. 24-25; vol. 2, p. 46
More Information
Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D280-D280/33) and D53-D53/81 Studies and Designs by R. Wilson done in Rome in the Year MDCCLII, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.3586-1922).