Ionic Capitals

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Ionic Capitals
Ionic Capitals
Ionic Capitals
Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Ionic Capitals
Date
c.1752 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk heightened with white on grey paper
Dimensions
Metric: 134 x 191 mm
Imperial: 5 1/4 x 7 1/2 in.
Collection
Private Collection, England
Accession Number
RF80
Wilson Online Reference
D228
Exhibited
London 1925 (88B); Exeter 1946 (24); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (26); Tercentenary 2014 (19)
Provenance
William Lock of Norbury; his sale, Sotheby's, London 3-7 May 1821; Richard Ford; by descent
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; no inscription
Subject
These Ionic capitals were in the Farnese Gardens on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The motif is incorporated into the foreground of P64 Rome and the Ponte Molle, 1754, National Museum Wales, P66 Landscape Capriccio on the Via Aemilia, Private Collection, New York and P134 Moor Park, Distant View towards Cassiobury, Private Collection, England, as well as the drawing D302 Ponte Molle, Monte Mario, Huntington Library and Gallery, San Marino, California. The capitals were also drawn by Wilson's pupils, Johan Mandelberg and Johannes Wiedwelt c.1755-56 and were later engraved by Piranesi.
Related Paintings
P64 Rome from the Ponte Molle, National Museum Wales
P66 Landscape Capriccio on the Via Aemilia, Private Collection, New York
P134 Moor Park, Distant View towards Cassiobury, Private Collection, England
Related Works by Other Artists
Johan Mandelberg (1730-1786), Ionic Capitals, c.1755-56. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Critical commentary
Wilson made several drawings of still-life themes as studies in the play of light and shadow. These exercises allowed him to develop his skills in realistic representation as he began to paint topographical views instead of rococo landscape designs. This drawing is a reworked version of one which formerly formed part of his Italian Sketchbook, Studies and Designs by R. Wilson done in Rome in the Year MDCCLII (D53). At some point, probably in the 19th century, that original study was removed and is now known only through a copy made by Jane Bowles, daughter of Oldfield Bowles. Her copy of the entire sketchbook is now at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Bibliography
Ford 1948, fig. 8; Ford 1951, p. 53, pl. 15; Nielsen 1979, p. 440, pl. 73; Solkin 1982, pp. 159-60; Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 71, RF 80; Wilson and Europe 2014, pp. 218-19
Updated by Compiler
2021-08-03 00:00:00