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    300 years
    "London, Cardiff and New Haven 1982-83" Is linked to these Works of Art
    of 146

    Study of Trees

    Study of Trees
    Study of Trees
    Study of Trees
    Private Collection, USA / Photograph Courtesy of Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd.
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Study of Trees
    Date
    c.1754-56
    Medium
    Black chalk and stump heightened with white on grey paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: 515 x 375 mm
    Imperial: 20 1/4 x 14 3/4 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, USA (c/o Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd).
    Wilson Online Reference
    D241
    Description
    A group of trees in leaf on a steep bank rising to the left
    Exhibited
    London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (53); Sudbury 1991 (7)
    Provenance
    Cyril and Shirley Fry (purchased in the 1970s); Fry sale, Sotheby's, London, 7 July 2021 (7), bt Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd; acquired from them by Private Collection, USA, 2022.
    Signature/inscription
    Inscribed in a modern hand, lower right: Wilson
    Two illegible words lower left
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Backboard upper right, white chalk: [illegible letters] 52
    Mount inscriptions
    Inscription by a different old hand lower centre: Gainsborough
    Labels
    Verso on backboard:
    [1] Upper left: four modern saleroom labels
    [2] Upper right: modern saleroom label
    [3] Lower right: red exhibition label
    [4] Lower right: two Gainsborough's House exhibition labels
    [5] Lower right: modern saleroom label
    Subject
    The trees may have been in the vicinity of Lake Nemi, which Wilson is known to have visited at this time. The area round it was famous for its trees.
    Related Drawings
    D245 'Arbra Santa' on the Banks of Lake Nemi (Study of an Ancient Tree), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
    Critical commentary
    As Solkin has noted, this is one of Wilson's most sensitive studies of trees. The artist had made considerable progress in his command of the chalk medium by the time he left Italy. It was only towards the end of his stay that he was able to handle this chosen technique with such subtlety and refinement.
    Bibliography
    Solkin 1982, p. 174
    Condition/Conservation
    The paper has an old flattened horizontal fold about three fifths up
    Updated by Compiler
    07/06/2022

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • 'Arbra Santa' on the Banks of Lake Nemi (Study of an Ancient Tree, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983
    • Sudbury, Gainsborough's House, 17 August - 13 October 1991

    Documents

    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
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