The White Monk

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The White Monk
The White Monk
The White Monk
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Thomas Hastings after Wilson
Title
The White Monk
Date
Published 5 November 1822
Medium
Etching on chine collé
Dimensions
Metric: 177 x 228 mm
Imperial: 7 x 9 in.
Accession Number
1854,0708.79
Wilson Online Reference
E72/22
Description
Landscape with two figures praying before a wayside cross on a rocky promontory at the left, with woods and a waterfall beside. In the right foreground two lovers sit beneath a parasol, one turning to look at a figure passing on horseback in the centre. A town is visible across the river or lake in the right background, with mountains beyond.
Provenance
Bought from George Willis, Piazza, Covent Garden, 1854
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image with the title, 'The Original is in the Possession of Lady Ford - / 23 I - long by 18 I - broad.'; production details and publication line: 'Painted by R Wilson. RA.' 'Etched by T. Hastings - and | published in London Nov 5 1822.'
Page numbered lower right: 23
Related Drawings
D344 Banks of the Tiber 1757, Rhode Island Museum of Art, School of Design, Providence
Related Prints
E17 James Roberts after Wilson, The White Monk (Untitled) The British Museum
E68 Anonymous after Wilson, The White Monk (Stafford Gallery), The British Museum
E70 Samuel Middiman after Wilson, The White Monk (Untitled), The British Museum
Related Paintings
Richard Wilson The White Monk - I, formerly Lady Vere Bidlake, Kingswood (1953) - current location unknown
Critical commentary
From a series of forty etchings after paintings by Richard Wilson and additional title page, bound in a volume in red tooled leather with gold decorative border, lettered on the spine with 'Wilson's | Etchings | by | Hastings'; the title page lettered in black and red: 'Etchings, | from the Works | of | [ facsimile of signature below portrait] Ric. Wilson | with Some Memoirs of his Life, &c. | by Thomas Hastings, Esq. | Collector of His Majesty's Customs. | "Non Ductus Officio Sed Amore Operis." Quintillian. | Published by Hurst, Robinson & Co. Cheapside, London. | Johnson, Typ. Apollo Press, 1825. Brook Street, Holborn'; containing twenty pages of Introductory and Concluding Remarks by the etcher, including descriptions of Richard Wilson's original paintings.
The title 'The White Monk' was first linked to this composition in the lettering of Hastings's print.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
PRA324441
Bibliography
Hastings 1825, p. 16, repr.; WGC, p. 227 under pl. 122a; Yule 2015, pp. 60 & 69
More Information
George Willis was an antiquarian book dealer, who occasionally published books and prints. His firm was active from 1832-1856 and sold many prints to the British Museum. In 1856 it merged with Thomas Sotheran to become Willis & Sotheran.
Updated by Compiler
2015-12-09 00:00:00