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    "Williams 2011" Is linked to these Works of Art
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    A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II)

    A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II)
    A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II)
    A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II)
    Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II)
    Date
    c.1772 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 42.5 x 44.5 cm
    Imperial: 16 3/4 x 17 7/8 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, England
    Accession Number
    BB31
    Wilson Online Reference
    P97
    Description
    An Italianate rural landscape, with a high foreground overlooking a wide river with a fallen tree trunk to the left and a boy fishing with a seated girl and her baby to the right. In the middle distance is a broad stretch of water with a rocky cliff in the background to the right, surmounted by a castle. There is a shallow bank to the left, with hazy plains and mountains in the distance. The delicate light, conveyed through soft colouring, is reflected in the river and enhances the sense of space.
    Exhibited
    Conwy 2009 (27); Weston 2011 (27); Gainsborough's House 2014 (unnumbered)
    Provenance
    Benjamin Booth; the Revd James Ford; Edmund Ford; Robert Ford; his daughter, Mrs Rogers; Lionel Edwards of Penrose; 1961 bequeathed to his wife's niece, Joanna, Lady Ford; thence by descent
    Related Prints
    E72/9 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, View in Italy, The British Museum (1854,0708.66) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    A version was offered at Bonhams, Knightsbridge sale 29 April 2015 (217)
    Critical commentary
    Wilson spent much of the 1750s in Italy and produced paintings of Italian scenes for the rest of his life. However, he also painted views of his native Wales and it is sometimes difficult to be sure, as with this painting, whether he meant to evoke the Arno, the Po, the Tiber or the Dee valley. The composition is similar to that found in many of his views, combining topographical detail, often studied in North Wales and Cheshire, with some artistic licence. There are many surviving versions of this picture, an archetypal 'good breeder'. This is one of two versions of the composition originally in the Booth collection.
    Bibliography
    Booth Notes, Doc. 9 (*26); WGC pp. 75, 213-14, pl. 100b (Booth version 2); Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 18, BB31; Williams 2011, p. 38

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, View in Italy, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II), Tate, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)and Studio, A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) A Summer Evening ('On the Arno' - II), Private Collection, England

    Exhibitions

    • Conwy, Royal Cambrian Academy, 24 October - 23 December 2009
    • Weston Park, The Granary Art Gallery, 2 April - 3 July 2011
    • Sudbury, Gainsborough's House, 11 January - 31 May 2014

    Biographies

    • Benjamin Booth (1732-1807)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Brinsley Ford and other authors, The Ford Collection
    • Gareth Williams, Masterpieces from the Ford Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 9: List of Wilson's Landscapes with Sizes and former Owners
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