Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 24(v) and 25(r)

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Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 24(v) and 25(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 24(v) and 25(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 24(v) and 25(r)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) & William Hodges (1744-1797)
Title
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 24(v) and 25(r)
Date
1754
Medium
Graphite, with white and black chalk on medium, rough, blued white wove paper, bound in vellum
Dimensions
Metric: 281 x 210 mm (each sheet)
Imperial: 11 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. (each sheet)
Accession Number
B1977.14.359 v24 & r25
Wilson Online Reference
D280/24
Description
24(v) William Hodges: Study in Durham Yard
25(r) A partly clothed female figure seen obliquely from behind, turned to the left and emptying water from a cylindrical container into a pot
Provenance
Oldfield Bowles; given to Sir George Beaumont, 1784; thence by descent until 1963, when sold to Paul Mellon
Signature/inscription
24(v): Inscribed in black chalk upper right: Study in Durham Yard before the [/] Adelphi was built. [/] By Wm. Hodges, [/] pupil to Richd Wilson [/] in 1765
25(r): Inscribed by Wilson in black chalk upper right: in the Capitol
Subject
Durham Yard, south of the Strand, London, took its name from Durham House built in the 14th century for the Bishops of Durham. In 1660 it was largely demolished and the residual space, Durham Court, became an area occupied by small traders and artisans. By the mid-18th century it had declined into a virtual slum prior to becoming the site for the Adam brothers' Adelphi, begun in 1768. The ruined tower in the drawing had probably been part of the chapel of Durham House. There are pencil drawings of it by Joseph Farington who also studied under Wilson from 1763 to 1766 on pages 3 and 61 of his 1765 sketchbook at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Related Drawings
D280/26 Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 26(v)
Related Works by Other Artists
Joseph Farington (1747-1821) A Tower, pp. 3 & 61 of Sketchbook, 1765, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (P.73-1921)
Critical commentary
24(v): William Hodges RA (1744-1797) entered Wilson's studio in the Covent Garden Piazza as assistant and pupil in 1757 or 1758, remaining there at least until 1763 and on the evidence of the inscription on this drawing until 1765. He later travelled to the Antarctic, India, Russia and Germany before becoming a banker in Dartmouth.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 6363
Bibliography
Sutton & Clements 1968, vol. 1, pp. 23-24; vol. 2, p. 43
More Information
Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D280-D280/33) and D53-D53/81 Studies and Designs by R. Wilson done in Rome in the Year MDCCLII, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.3586-1922).