Part of Mecaenas' Villa at Tivoli

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Part of Mecaenas' Villa at Tivoli
Part of Mecaenas' Villa at Tivoli
Part of Mecaenas' Villa at Tivoli
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Thomas Hastings after Wilson
Title
Part of Mecaenas' Villa at Tivoli
Date
Published 1824
Medium
Etching on chine collé
Dimensions
Metric: 210 x 170 mm
Imperial: 8 1/4 x 6 11/16 in.
Accession Number
1854,0708.94
Wilson Online Reference
E72/37
Description
Two women are standing in the foreground at the ruins of the so-called Villa of Maecenas about to enter a chamber on the right. Opposite them antique fragments are propped against the walls and behind them receding vaults are illuminated by rays of light streaming through a hole in the overgrown roof. Trees, fields and distant hills are visible in the background at left.
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 17 Long by 13 1/2 Wide - ', production details and publication line: 'Painted by R. Wilson.' 'Etched by T. Hastings. | 1824.'
Page numbered lower right: 37
Related Drawings
D130 The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
Related Prints
E43 Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven and other impressions
E88 Thomas Abiel Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Related Paintings
P137 Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
P137A Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery (Lady Ford's painting)
P137B Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
P137C Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
P137D Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
P137E Studio of Wilson, Villa Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
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.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
PRA324738
Bibliography
Hastings 1825, p. 19, repr.; WGC, p. 205 under pl. 87a; 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