A Weir on the River Po near Ferrara

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A Weir on the River Po near Ferrara
A Weir on the River Po near Ferrara
A Weir on the River Po near Ferrara
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
A Weir on the River Po near Ferrara
Date
Dated 1776 ['76] on back of canvas
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 23 cm diameter
Imperial: 9 1/8 in. diameter
Accession Number
WA1855.202
Wilson Online Reference
P197
Exhibited
Birmingham 1948 (46); London 1949 (45); Kenwood 1980 (73)
Provenance
Chambers Hall Gift, 1855
Signature/inscription
Inscribed on back of canvas : 'Rd Willson 1776 ['76] | River Po | near Ferrara'
Verso inscriptions
[1] Richard Willson .776 | River Po near Ferrara.
The inscription is at present concealed but photographic evidence of it exists and according to W.G. Constable, the first figure is illegible and the second doubtful. He also believed the two lines of the inscription to be possibly by different hands, adding that in neither case does the writing look like Wilson's. Nor does there seem to be an example of his spelling his name with two l's.
Subject
W.G. Constable saw the locality of the view as uncertain since if the river is the Po, the surrounding country is quite unlike that near Ferrara or along the greater part of the Po Valley. There are hills nearer the source of the river but no evidence that Wilson ever went to Turin or the adjoining region. Other dubious identifications have been the Falls of Terni or Tivoli and the region near Velletri.
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Critical commentary
At least six painted versions are known, plus two drawings. The titles of all the versions derive from the inscription on the back of this one. They seem to be based on the composition of A Waterfall by Gaspard Dughet, then owned by the dealer and collector Dr Robert Bragge (1700-1777), engraved by Lois Granville (fl. 1741-1757) in reverse and published by Knapton in 1741. P197 and other versions are examples of only three authentic painted roundel compositions by Wilson and as Anne French has noted, suggest that he had a particular prototype in mind. (The others are the larger P18 & P19 presented to the Foundling Hospital in 1746). While in Italy, however, he made a few smaller circular drawings, e.g. D242 Pastoral Landscape with Tower, Rijkmuseum Amsterdam.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
A200
Bibliography
Grant 1926-47, vol. 1, p. 61; Bury 1947, p. 68; WGC, pp. 75, 96, 211, pl. 98a; A. French, Gaspard Dughet called Gaspard Poussin 1615-75, exh. cat., Kenwood, London, 1980, pp. 88-89 (73); Solkin 1981, p. 414, n. 21; The Ashmolean Museum: Complete Illustrated Catalogue of Paintings, 2004, p. 244
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Condition/Conservation
Relined, cleaned and varnished by Ayerst Hooker Buttery, 1910, when the inscription was hidden. In 1917, reported to be covered with a network of fine cracks, but in perfect and brilliant preservation.