Landscape & Figures [The White Monk] (Stafford Gallery)

Landscape & Figures [The White Monk] (Stafford Gallery)
Landscape & Figures [The White Monk] (Stafford Gallery)
Landscape & Figures [The White Monk] (Stafford Gallery)
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Samuel Middiman (1750-1831) after Wilson
Title
Landscape & Figures [The White Monk] (Stafford Gallery)
Date
Published 1818
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Metric: 74 x 98 mm
Imperial: 3 x 3 7/8 in.
Accession Number
1860,0211.611
Wilson Online Reference
E68
Description
Landscape with two pilgrims praying at a wooden cross on the rocks left centre, with a waterfall to the left. In the right foreground two women sit beneath a tree, one turning to look at a figure passing on horseback in the centre. There is a town across the water to the right in the background.
Provenance
Bought through Edward Daniell, 53 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, London, 1860
Signature/inscription
Lettered above the image: 'MARQUIS OF STAFFORD'S COLLECTION. | Class the Sixth LANDSCAPE & FIGURES Schools of Great Britain | 5 '
Lettered below the image, left: R. Wilson; centre: STAFFORD GALLERY; right: 2. 3/4 by 1.9 1/2
Subject
The subject and thence the meaning remain open to multiple interpretations. Solkin memorably explained its attraction as a moral landscape by an emblematic interpretation of the Platonic philosophical concept of concordia discors, or the harmonious union of opposing elements, where 'the chaotic multiplicity of nature has yielded to the ordering hand of art.' (Solkin 1982, p. 66). He saw the inclusion of monks or pilgrims on the promontory as reassurance of a world anchored in divinely ordained harmony and reinforcing the moral certitude and authority of the patrician class who patronised the artist.
Related Prints
E17 James Roberts after Wilson, The White Monk (Untitled), The British Museum and other impressions
E70 Samuel Middiman after Wilson, The White Monk, The British Museum
E72/22 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, The White Monk, The British Museum and other impressions
Related Paintings
P146 The White Monk - III, Private Collection, Ireland
Critical commentary
The 'Stafford Gallery' had as its full title: 'Engravings of the Most Noble the Marquis of Stafford's Collection of Pictures in London: Arranged According to Schools and in Chronological Order with Remarks on Each Picture'. This collection was formed by the 3rd Earl of Bridgewater, augmented by George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland and housed at Cleveland House in London. It was opened to the public in 1806. The related publication was undertaken by W.Y. Ottley and P.W. Tomkins, and issued in four volumes, 1810-1818, by Tomkins; Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme; J White & Co. and Cadell & Davies, with illustrations engraved by Tomkins, Fittler, Romney, Heath and others, from drawings by W M Craig. The publication also included plans of the 13 rooms of the gallery, showing the location of each picture.
Bibliography
W.Y. Ottley, Engravings of the Most Noble the Marquis of Stafford's Collection of Pictures in London ... , vol 4, London 1818, p. 141, no. 5
More Information
E68 occupies the upper half of the page in the 'Stafford Gallery', with a print by Middiman after Reinagle and accompanying lettering taking the lower half.
Updated by Compiler
2021-06-15 00:00:00