Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 27

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Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 27
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 27
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 27
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 27
Date
1752
Medium
Black chalk on white paper
Dimensions
Metric: 188 x 130 mm (volume: 203 x 143 mm)
Imperial: 8 x 5 5/8 in.
Accession Number
E.3586-1922
Wilson Online Reference
D53/27
Description
View inside an ancient building with shallow round archways and two figures in the right foreground on a bank inside and another in the centre foreground
Provenance
Bt about 1922 from Miss Alice J. Bowles
Signature/inscription
Numbered below the image lower right: 28.
Page numbered upper right corner: 27 [sic]
Related Prints
E60/5, John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: View inside an ancient Building with shallow round Archways, The British Museum
E60/5A John Whessell after Wilson, Studies & Designs: View inside an ancient Building with shallow round Archways, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Critical commentary
Wilson's commitment to landscape made soon after his arrival in Rome in late 1751 initiated a sustained burst of activity as a draughtsman which was to gain momentum over the next few years. One major piece of evidence for the seriousness with which he took his new career is provided by the pages of this surviving sketchbook from 1752. Although it contains a number of rapid sketches from nature and the antique, most of its leaves are filled with imaginary essays in landscape design, usually incorporating classical themes such as antique ruins but presented in a rococo manner, and, as noted by Solkin, 'using lazy curving forms and often capricious combinations of architectural motifs in a way that still recalls the works of Zuccarelli.' Increasingly, however, Wilson came to adopt a more naturalistic style.
The present page was reproduced as a soft-ground etching by John Whessell and published by Robert Archer in 1811 (E60/5 & E60/5A).
Bibliography
Solkin 1982, pp. 152, 157
More Information
Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D53-D53/81) and D280-D280/33 Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 1754, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection