Farm with a Pond (The Village Pond)

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Farm with a Pond (The Village Pond)
Farm with a Pond (The Village Pond)
Farm with a Pond (The Village Pond)
National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Farm with a Pond (The Village Pond)
Date
1776 or later
Medium
Oil on copper
Dimensions
Metric: 17.8 x 21.6 cm
Imperial: 7 x 8 1/2 in.
Accession Number
BELUM.U2301
Wilson Online Reference
P185
Exhibited
London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (144)
Provenance
With Arthur Tooth, London; 1938, Sir Hugh Walpole; Christie's 10 January 1947 (164), bt Tooth; Mrs F.L. Evans; Christie's 23 June 1972 (62), bt Leggatt; bt Ulster Museum
Techniques and materials
Painted on the verso of the copper plate used by Michael 'Angelo' Rooker for his original trial etching of Wilson's The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, which was published by Boydell in 1776.
Related Paintings
W.G. Constable noted that a landscape with a cascade and a tower and bridge in the distance, catalogued as Wilson and also on copper (7 x 9 1/4 in.) was in the Benjamin West sale, Christie's, 23 June 1820 (5).
Critical commentary
The authorship of this painting has been the subject of doubt, largely in terms of its quality, small size and unusual support. However, in his last years, the indigent artist had little control over these. In the present case he re-used the back of a copper-plate etched by Michael 'Angelo' Rooker on the other side for E43 and other impressions after Wilson's The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (P137 and other versions). Solkin has remarked that so commonplace a scene provides a poignant reminder of Wilson's precipitous descent from the heights of his earlier Grand Style.
Bibliography
WGC, p. 177, pl. 38c; Solkin 1982, pp. 248-49
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Updated by Compiler
2022-05-11 00:00:00