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    300 years
    "Amsterdam 1936" Is linked to these Works of Art
    of 4

    The River Dee near Eaton Hall

    The River Dee near Eaton Hall
    The River Dee near Eaton Hall
    The River Dee near Eaton Hall
    The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The River Dee near Eaton Hall
    Date
    Early 1760s (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 68.6 x 114.3 cm
    Imperial: 27 x 45 1/2 in
    Collection
    The Courtauld Gallery, London. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    P.2005.XX.2.
    Wilson Online Reference
    P86B
    Description
    The view is from east of Eaton Hall, near Eccleston, Cheshire, perhaps at the Crook of Dee, near the Aldford Road. The Dee extends from the left foreground to the centre middle distance and is bordered on both sides by trees and bushes. At a bend in the middle distance there is a building and in a field to the left, cows are grazing. A tree in the right foreground extends its branches nearly halfway across the picture and below it on the bank are a standing fisherman, a seated man and a reclining woman. The direction seems to be downstream, towards the north-west, Chester with its Old Dee Bridge, and the distant hills of Wales. The mood is one of evening.
    Exhibited
    BI 1824 (146 - View on the River Dee, lent Sir T. Baring); BI 1842 (75 - Banks of the Dee, lent Sir T. Baring); BI 1845 (130 - Landscape); RA Old Masters 1871 (381 - River Scene and Figures, lent Earl of Dudley); RA Old Masters 1894 (102 - lent Holford); London 1925 (6 - lent by Lt.-Col. Sir George Holford, KCVO, CIE.); Vienna 1927 (44 - lent Holford); Amsterdam 1936 (178)
    Provenance
    Sir Thomas Baring Bt (1772-1848), Stratton Park, East Stratton, Hampshire by 1814; sold Christie's, 2 June 1848 (45 - A View on the Dee, with extensive distant country, lighted by a glaring evening sun; some peasants in the foreground), bt James or J.E. Fordham (£164-17-0); William Coningham, sold Christie's 9 June 1849 (23); bt Farrer (£225-15-0); Earl of Dudley by 1871; sold Christie's, 25 June 1892 (32); bt Agnew, 300 guineas; 1893, Pandeli Ralli (1845-1928); 1894, Sir George Lindsay Holford, Dorchester House, Park Lane, London W. & Westonbirt, Gloucestershire; sold Christie's 17-18 May 1928 (121), bt Agnew (4100 gns); Major Jack S. Courtauld, Burton Park, Petworth; Mrs J.S. Courtauld; Miss Jeanne Courtauld; bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute, 2005
    Signature/inscription
    Inscribed lower centre below the figures: RW monogram, the R reversed
    Techniques and materials
    The artist has used two different blues for the sky and river - a more purplish pigment, probably ultramarine, for the sky and a greenish blue for the river (probably Prussian blue).
    Labels
    [1] Handwritten in brown ink on label at top, reverse left corner:
    W.O.
    420
    3...
    [2] TENTOONSTELLUNG VAN ENGELSCHE KUNST
    LOAN EXHIBITION OF BRITISH ART
    STEDELIJK MUSEUM - AMSTERDAM 1936
    Name of Artist: R. Wilson
    Title of work: Landscape
    Name and address of owner: Major J.S. Courtauld, Burton Park - Petworth.
    Subject
    The composition appears to be the first depiction of 'public' British scenery, as opposed to private estates, executed after Wilson's return from Italy. Writers from Elizabethan times, including Spenser and Milton, referred to an ancient tradition ascribing divine qualities to the Dee, prophetic for the fortunes of England and Wales, lying either side of it. Eaton Hall was the ancestral seat of Sir Richard Grosvenor and in a modern form is currently that of his descendant, the 7th Duke of Westminster.
    Related Drawings
    D354 The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall Cheshire, Art Institute of Chicago, Leonora Hall Gurley Collection
    Related Prints
    E25 Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, The British Museum & other impressions
    E71/1 John Young after Wilson, View on the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, The British Museum
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P111 The Valley of the Dee with Chester in the Distance, The National Gallery, London
    Critical commentary
    Wilson painted this charming river scene a few years after his return from Italy. There he had studied the landscape of the Roman Campagna and its representation by Claude and Gaspard Dughet, as evident here in the soft, golden lighting. The influence of Aelbert Cuyp is also discernible, but more evident is that of Claude's river variations, such as Landscape with the Flight into Egypt (1663, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid). P86, the Barber Institute's painting, is the earliest of numerous versions. Even if it was not the picture exhibited at the Society of Artists exhibition of 1760 it must have been painted about that year, which is also that of the Petworth version (P86A). Comparison at the National Gallery (2 September 2013) revealed that the present painting (P86B) is a much more fluid and worked up picture than P86, with many more background details, suggesting that it, too, was an exhibition picture.
    Bibliography
    The Holford Collection, Dorchester House, 1927, vol. 2, p. 39, cat. 174 , pl. CLIX; Country Life, 7 November 1947, p. 929 repr. over the fireplace; WGC, p. 174, pl. 34c.
    Condition/Conservation
    Impasto flattened by lining. Pale coloured ground, probably applied by a colourman; it does not extend to the edges of the original canvas. The ground is composed of chalk with some lead white bound in oil and there are small additions of earths (yellow and red ochre and a bone black or umber) and possibly some glass. The ground seems to have been applied in two layers, possibly with an intermediate sealing layer and with no identified discrete priming layer. No dead colouring has been identified and the paint seems to have been applied with only one or two layers in the lights. Several pentimenti: a slight adjustment to the position of the large tree at the right and also the roots of the tree resting on the stone ledge. The foreground foliage at the right hand bank has also been reduced slightly and the log with the figures appears to have been extended slightly into the river. There is possible scratching through of the upper surface to the underpaint to be seen through two of the tree trunks at the left. Indentations along the margins suggest the painting may have originally been framed whilst the paint was still wet.
    Updated by Compiler
    18/01/2022

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall, Cheshire, Art Institute of Chicago, Leonora Hall Gurley Collection

    Prints

    • Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, The British Museum
    • Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • John Young after Wilson, View on the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Imitator of Wilson, The River Dee near Eaton Hall (A View on the River Dee with Anglers), The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Petworth House, National Trust
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Private Collection, Wales
    • Ascribed to Wilson, The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Private Collection, North America
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Birmingham
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The River Dee near Eaton Hall (View of the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, Cheshire), Tyntesfield, National Trust

    Paintings

    • The Valley of the Dee with Chester in the Distance, The National Gallery, London

    Exhibitions

    • London, National Gallery, Millbank (Tate Gallery), 26 June - 30 September 1925
    • Vienna, Galleries of the Secession, 1927
    • Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 4 July - 4 October 1936

    Biographies

    • Sir Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor (1731-1802)
    • Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926)
    • Pandeli Ralli (1845-1928)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
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