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D53/31 - Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 31
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Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 31
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Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 31
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 31
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
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Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 31
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.
Details
Links
Collection
Victoria & Albert Museum, London. To license image, click here
Accession Number
E.3586-1922
Wilson Online Reference
D53/31
Description
View of a port with a square tower to the left, four figures in a dip in the centre and a sailing boat at sea in the middle distance - all within a rectangular border
Provenance
Bt about 1922 from Miss Alice J. Bowles
Signature/inscription
Numbered upper right corner of page: 31
Collectors' marks
Museum stamp, lower centre of facing page: V.A.M.
Related Prints
E60/41 John Whessell after Wilson,
Studies & Designs: View of a Port with a square Tower
, The British Museum
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.
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
Updated by Compiler
2017-11-09 00:00:00
Work of Art
Prints
John Whessell after Wilson,
Studies & Designs: View of a Port with a square Tower
, The British Museum
This drawing is part of the "Italian Sketchbook Victoria & Albert Museum 1752" sketchbook
View sketchbook pages