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    300 years
    "Solkin 1982" Is linked to these Works of Art
    of 176

    Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons

    Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
    Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
    Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
    The Trustees of the British Museum
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    Artist
    John Plimmer (c.1725-61) after Wilson (?)
    Title
    Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
    Date
    1760
    Medium
    Etching, printed on chine collé
    Dimensions
    Metric: 143 x 142 mm (trimmed)
    Imperial: 5 5/8 x 5 5/8 in. (trimmed)
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    1852,1009.768
    Wilson Online Reference
    E9
    Description
    Rocky landscape, with four female figures holding hands and dancing in a circle in the foreground. A man with a staff is seen seated on the right, pointing and talking to the dancers. There is a forest on the right and a ruin on top of a hill in the left middle distance. Rays of light stream over a mountain and a forest and lake are seen in the background.
    Exhibited
    Tercentenary 2014 (124)
    Provenance
    Acquired 1852
    Signature/inscription
    Scratched below image with production detail: 'J. Plimmer. f. Romae 1760.' ... [size of original picture:] '3 feet 6 inches square'
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Annotated in pencil: 'No 3 of Naples'
    Related Prints
    E24 Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    E24A Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    E24B Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, The British Museum
    E47 William Woollett and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy after Wilson and John Hamilton Mortimer, Apollo and the Seasons, The British Museum
    E47A William Woollett and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy after Wilson and John Hamilton Mortimer, Apollo and the Seasons, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    Related Paintings
    P164 Apollo and the Seasons, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
    P164A Apollo and the Seasons, Indianapolis Museum of Art
    Critical commentary
    The annotation verso suggests that the original painting on which the print is based may have been related to Plimmer's period in Naples in 1757. He is known to have painted views of Naples and Rome for Lord Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford, and Mr Southwell but as Postle as observed, Plimmer's few known landscapes indicate that he generally preferred imaginary views that derived from Claudean compositions. In the present case the area to the left recalls the landscape at Tivoli, including the Temple of Vesta, repeatedly painted by Wilson, who later also treated the classical subject of the dance of the Seasons to the music of Apollo. As noted by Constable, the composition may thus derive from a lost painting executed in Rome by Wilson, Plimmer's teacher.
    Bibliography
    WGC, pp. 140, 167; Solkin 1982, p. 237, n. 1; Ingamells 1997, pp. 431 & 880-81; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 302
    Updated by Compiler
    13/04/2017

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, The British Museum
    • William Woollett and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy, after Wilson and John Hamilton Mortimer, Apollo and the Seasons, The British Museum
    • William Woollett and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy after Wilson and John Hamilton Mortimer, Apollo and the Seasons, Royal Academy of Arts, London

    Paintings

    • Apollo and the Seasons, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
    • Apollo and the Seasons, Indianapolis Museum of Art

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • John Ingamells, A Dictionary of English and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800
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