Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 28(v) and 29(r)

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Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 28(v) and 29(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 28(v) and 29(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 28(v) and 29(r)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings 28(v) and 29(r)
Date
1754
Medium
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 v28 & r29
Wilson Online Reference
D280/28
Description
28(v): Blank
29(r): Study of a large hollow tree, with a seated artist and travelling friar standing in the lower left corner and woodland beyond
Provenance
Oldfield Bowles; given to Sir George Beaumont, 1784; thence by descent until 1963, when sold to Paul Mellon
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; no inscription
Related Drawings
D280/5 Italian Sketchbook - Drawing 6(r)
D245 The Arbra Sacra on the Banks of Lake Nemi
Critical commentary
One of a number of tree studies Wilson made in Italy, e.g. D245 The Arbra Sacra on the Banks of Lake Nemi. Figures drawing make fairly frequent appearances in Wilson's landscapes and that is what the artist here seems to be doing (rather than painting), though it is tempting to construe the prominent stick in the foreground as a mahlstick temporarily put aside. The tree may be the same as that in D280/5 but imagined on a different scale.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 6363
Bibliography
Sutton & Clements 1968, vol. 1, pp. 27-28; vol. 2, p. 49; Solkin 1982
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).
Updated by Compiler
2016-09-02 00:00:00