Landscape with the Crater of Vesuvius

Landscape with the Crater of Vesuvius
Landscape with the Crater of Vesuvius
Landscape with the Crater of Vesuvius
Royal Academy of Arts, London
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Landscape with the Crater of Vesuvius
Date
Dated lower right: 1756
Medium
Black and white chalk on laid paper which has been painted a light brown colour
Dimensions
Metric: 96 x 100 mm
Imperial: 3 3/4 x 4 in.
Accession Number
03/1877
Wilson Online Reference
D249
Exhibited
Tercentenary 2014 (50)
Provenance
William Lock of Norbury; his sale, Sotheby's, London 3-7 May 1821 (386); William Esdaile (1758-1837); Wellesley sale 1866 (748)
Signature/inscription
Signed lower left: R.W.f.
Inscribed lower right: WE
Collectors' marks
[1] Recto lower right corner: William Esdaile (Lugt 2617)
Related Drawings
D250 Landscape with Vesuvius, Royal Academy of Arts, London (03/1876)
D338 A Skirmish in Rowing-Boats in the Bay of Baiae (Private Collection)
Related Prints
E60/24 John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: Three Men with two Mules halting in a Field below a Volcano, The British Museum and other impressions
E60/35 John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: Vesuvius, The British Museum and other impressions
Related Works by Other Artists
John Downman, The Crater of Vesuvius, watercolour, 1774, Tate, London (T10174)
Critical commentary
D249 and D250 both belonged to William Lock (1732-1810) who very probably visited Naples and the surrounding area with Wilson in 1752. Martin Postle has suggested that two such elegantly framed and presented pieces were created by the artist as a souvenir of their expedition to the crater of Vesuvius, also recorded in D53 Wilson's 1752 Sketchbook, Victoria and Albert Museum. The circular framing recurs on a larger scale in D338 A Skirmish in Rowing-Boats in the Bay of Baiae (Private Collection), which was also owned by Lock.
Bibliography
E.B. Jupp, Royal Academy Catalogue, vol. 1; WGC, p. 37; Spencer-Longhurst 2012, p. 65, fig. 36; Wilson and Europe 2014, pp. 240-241