River View with Cader Idris

River View with Cader Idris
River View with Cader Idris
River View with Cader Idris
Collection of The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Photo MMFA. F. Cleveland Morgan Bequest.
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
River View with Cader Idris
Date
Undated
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 69.9 x 91.8 cm
Imperial: 27 1/2 x 36 1/8 in.
Accession Number
1962.1362
Wilson Online Reference
P140
Description
River scene in North Wales with an aqueduct and sailing boat in the right middle distance and a castle on the summit of the hill behind. In the foreground are an angler and two swans. A mountain in the distance is probably intended as Cader Idris.
Exhibited
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1939, Loan Exhibition of Nineteenth Century Landscape Paintings (51 - Classic Landscape); Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario 1940, Exhibition of Great Paintings - Canadian Red Cross (38 - Italian Landscape); Montreal Art Association, Masterpieces of Painting, 1942 (ex-catalogue); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1949, Art from Montreal Collections (58 - View in North Wales); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1952, Six Centuries of Landscape (35 - View in North Wales); Montreal Art Association 1959, Landscape Painting, (51); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1960, Canada Collects: European Painting 1860-1960 (124 - Landscape); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1986, Curators' Choice.
Provenance
Sold Christie's, 18 February 1901 (110 - River Scene in North Wales, with Bridge, Castle and Angler), bt Rigg (£11.0s.6d.); Christie's, 22 April 1901 (79), bt James Morgan (£8.18s.6d.); by descent; F. Cleveland Morgan Bequest 1962 with a life interest held by J. Bartlett Morgan, Senneville, Quebec (d. July 1988).
Labels
Handwritten label, originally on the back of the frame, now in the F.C. Morgan Catalogue: 'View in North Wales | Muller £L41 | auc. £40 | value £L == '
Critical commentary
The location of the scene has been much discussed over the years and it may in part be imaginary.
The price paid by James Morgan in 1901 is given as £8.18s.6d. in an annotated sale catalogue but is recorded elsewhere in the curatorial records and on the old label verso as £40. [Information kindly supplied by Janet M. Brooke].
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Oa23
Bibliography
WGC, pp. 92, 184, pl. 50b; R.H. Hubbard, European Paintings in Canadian Collections, Toronto, 1956, p. 154 [as River View with Caeder Idris]; P. Dumas, 'A Montreal Connoisseur and Benefactor', Canadian Art, vol. 16, no. 56, no. 1, February 1959, p. 19; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Annual Report, 1964, p. 32.
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Condition/Conservation
Relined. Conserved 1964 by Mrs Sari Stolow, 205, Clemow Avenue, Ottawa.
Updated by Compiler
2022-07-13 00:00:00