Castello Gondolpho (Castel Gandolfo and Lake Albano)

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Artist

Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)

Title

Castello Gondolpho (Castel Gandolfo and Lake Albano)

Date

Dated 1754

Medium

Black and white chalk and stump within the original mount

Dimensions

Metric: 282 x 422 mm
Imperial: 11 1/8 x 16 5/8 in.

Collection

Location Unknown

Wilson Online Reference

D312

Description

A View of Castel Gandolfo from across the north end of Lake Albano, with a shepherd in the foreground and figures on horseback descending to his right

Exhibited

Birmingham 1948 (83); London 1949 (82); Rome 1959 (671 - lent Dr Campbell Golding); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (46)

Provenance

Commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801); by descent to the 8th Earl; sold Christie's 29 January 1954 (16); bt Gooden; Dr Campbell Golding; Christie's 7 June 2001 (79); present location unknown

Signature/inscription

See 'Mount Inscriptions'

Verso inscriptions

[1] Inscribed in unknown hand: 26

Mount inscriptions

[1] Signed and dated in black chalk on coloured border, lower left corner: R Wilson f. Romae 1754.
[2] Inscribed in ink on cartellino lower centre: Castello Gon- | dolpho
[3] Inscribed in black chalk on coloured border, lower right corner: No. 14

Subject

Castel Gandolfo on the shore of Lake Albano is the summer residence of the Popes. It was built for Urban VIII (1623-44).

Related Drawings

D163 Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo, Victoria & Albert Museum
D314 Monte Cavo in the Alban Hills, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California

Related Paintings

P62 View of Castel Gandolfo and Lake Albano, Private Collection, England
P62A Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo, Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
P62B Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Critical commentary

The drawing is one of a series commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801) in 1754. The Dartmouth set of drawings formed the most important group of Wilson's finished compositions on paper and as a draughtsman, Wilson is best known through this commission. The Dartmouth drawings are distinguished by their white mount with lilac wash border, on which Wilson attached a small white label bearing the title. The artist John Hoppner said of the set of drawings that 'they were such as the Greeks would have made & put all others at a distance'. Joseph Farington wrote of them that 'they had all the qualities of his [Wilson's] pictures except the colour.'

Bibliography

Farington Diary, vol. 7, p. 2775 (1 June 1806); Farington Biographical Note p. 12; Ford 1948, fig. 3, p. 345, no. 14; Ford 1951, p. 61, no. 66; WGC, pp. 108, 191, pl. 65a; Solkin 1982, p. 170; Clark & Bowron 1985, p. 267 under cat. 195

More Information

This is one of 20 views of the Environs of Rome referred to by Thomas Jenkins in 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 drawings, with their lilac wash borders, were made by Wilson or under his direction, perhaps by Jenkins.

Condition/Conservation

Remarkably good, having been kept away from the light for 150 years. Ford, however, noted that the whites in the sky had become oxidised.

Updated by Compiler

12/10/2016

Castello Gondolpho (Castel Gandolfo and Lake Albano)

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