Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)

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Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wilts. / The Bridgeman Art Library
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) and Studio
Title
Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
Date
c.1758-60 (undated)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 98.9 x 144.7 cm
Imperial: 38 15/16 x 57 in.
Accession Number
88
Wilson Online Reference
P78
Description
Wilton House is seen at the end of a canal with an overflow weir in the right foreground, beside which there is a man seated, reading, or more likely drawing. Other figures are walking along the banks in the distance. On the left, lined by trees, is the old approach road, on which are a figure on horseback, a carriage, and other travellers. In the centre of the house façade is the so-called Holbein Tower, whose arch was the main entrance before Wyatt's alterations, begun in 1801.
Exhibited
BI 1814 (172/176, 194/198 or 196/200, as View at Wilton/View of Wilton House); Birmingham 1948-49 (50); London 1949 (49)
Provenance
Painted for Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke; thence by descent
Signature/inscription
Signed on the end of the tree trunk, centre foreground: RW [monogram, the R reversed]
Related Paintings
Four other views of Wilton painted for Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke (see 'Links' tab)
Critical commentary
One of a series of five views of Wilton House that Wilson painted for the 10th Earl of Pembroke, whom he first met in Italy. The entire set is not likely to be later than 1760, when Lord Pembroke left Britain for two years of military service on the Continent. The composition of P78 is indecisively organised and the trees ungainly for Wilson himself. The figure and the horse in the left foreground are atypical in angle and facture. The presence of figures on many different scales makes this seem an earlier work than the date of the commission and the painting is likely to include at least some studio input.
Bibliography
Catalogue 1814, p. 21; N.R. Wilkinson, Wilton House Pictures, 1907, vol. 2, p. 363, cat. 171 as School of Wilson and perhaps by George Barret; Waterhouse 1953, p. 177; WGC, pp. 87-88 and 189, pl. 60b; S. Pembroke, A Catalogue of the Paintings and Drawings in the Collection at Wilton House, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1968, p. 36, cat. 88; J. Harris, The Artist and the Country House, London 1979, p .276, pl. 298b; F. Russell, A Catalogue of the Pictures and Drawings at Wilton House, 2021, p. 121, cat. 208; J.M. Robinson, Wilton House, 2021, pp. 163-67.
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
More Information
Francis Russell has noted that this was the first view of the house that the visitor from Salisbury would have experienced.
Condition/Conservation
Unglazed. Cleaned in 1932 and in 1967. Conserved by Simon Foulkes and relined 2006 by Richard Watkiss. The frame is unique among the set of Wilton views.
Kate Lowry has noted: Pale grey ground, but with brown underglaze in foreground and in the reserve left for foliage. Foliage is rather more contrasty and the reserve tone a brighter brown than is usual for Wilson. The building is very neatly painted and the figures at the left of a man leading another on horseback are unusually competent. Probably painted by Wilson's pupils.

Updated by Compiler
2021-12-20 00:00:00