Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus

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Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus
Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus
Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus
Date
c.1752-54 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk on grey paper, slightly washed with Indian ink, and heightened with white
Dimensions
Metric: 252 x 412 mm
Imperial: 9 7/8 x 16 3/16 in.
Accession Number
DYCE.647
Wilson Online Reference
D271
Description
A view of a ruined hexagonal building near a lake with a wood in the background, a group of four figures in the foreground and others beyond
Provenance
Bequeathed by the Revd Alexander Dyce 1869
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; inscribed in black ink lower right: 647
Subject
The so-called Temple of Venus at Baiae on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples was built in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-137 AD). It was actually a thermal bath, reaching down to about six meters below the modern ground level.
Related Prints
E64 William Pengree Sherlock after Wilson, River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning'), The British Museum (1873,0809.1415) and other impressions
E72/14 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Temple of Venus with Part of the Bay of Baiae, The British Museum (1854,0708.71) and other impressions
E72/40 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Landscape (River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin), The British Museum
E73 Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Morning, The British Museum (1879,0614.334) and other impressions
Related Paintings
P92 An Italian Landscape (Morning) Classical Landscape, Private Collection, England
P92A River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin, Private Collection, England
P92B An Italian Landscape, Morning (River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin) (The Temple of Venus at Baiae), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
Critical commentary
Ford noted the accuracy with which Wilson has drawn the architectural details of the monument. He also noted that the temple 'somewhat altered in shape, is the subject of a picture owned by T. Hastings, and etched by him in 1821.' [E72/14]
Bibliography
DYCE COLLECTION. A Catalogue of the Paintings, Miniatures, Drawings, Engravings, Rings and Miscellaneous Objects Bequeathed by The Reverend Alexander Dyce, London : South Kensington Museum, 1874; Ford 1951, pp. 57-58, no. 44; WGC, pp. 107, 197, pl. 74b