Ruin in a Clearing

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Ruin in a Clearing
Ruin in a Clearing
Ruin in a Clearing
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Collections
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Ruin in a Clearing
Date
1753
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 122.1 x 172 cm
Imperial: 48 1/16 x 67 3/ 16 in.
Accession Number
ABDAG003508
Wilson Online Reference
P59
Provenance
William Duncan of Daneville, Castle Douglas, Scotland; c.1890, the Misses Duncan (his daughters); 1951, Mrs M.R.C. Gillespie of Daneville, Castle Douglas (grand-niece of the Misses Duncan); Christie's 21 November 1952 (73 - A Woody Lake Scene), bt Appleby; with Sidney F. Sabin, 4 Cork Street, London W.1; purchased 19 December 1958
Signature/inscription
Signed and inscribed lower right on the stone: 'Wilson Roma 1753'
Related Paintings
P114 Solitude, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea and other versions
Critical commentary
As noted by Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum: 'This work was painted in Italy and Wilson has captured the feeling of a classical past with the inclusion of fragments of sculpture and architecture. Typically Claudian is the framing of the middle distance with a dark foreground mass of trees and also the rustic figures, which are deliberately subordinated to the landscape.' There are slight resemblances to certain features of drawings done at Ariccia [e.g. D282] and the tree on the left has a similar outline to the one in P69 Ego fui in Arcadia, dated 1755. However, this may merely mean that it was one of a repertory of tree forms.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
58.48
Bibliography
WGC, p.231, pl.128b; Aberdeen Art Gallery Annual Report, 1958; Aberdeen Art Gallery Permanent Collection Catalogue, 1968, inv. no. 58.48, pl. 16.
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Condition/Conservation
Dimensions framed: 133.8 x 182.8 x 7cm
Updated by Compiler
2020-01-17 00:00:00