Homage before a Statue

Homage before a Statue
Homage before a Statue
Homage before a Statue
Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Homage before a Statue
Date
1754
Medium
Black chalk and stump on beige paper laid down enclosed in a thick ruled black chalk border
Dimensions
Metric: 114 x 134 mm
Imperial: 4 1/2 x 5 1/4 in.
Collection
Private Collection, England
Accession Number
RF87
Wilson Online Reference
D281
Description
In the right foreground three robed figures make obeisance before a large statue of the seated Virgin and Child. Behind them to the left is a chain and stone post fence and beyond it a wooded area, while in the right background may be seen a large domed building, perhaps St Peter's, Rome.
Exhibited
Exeter 1946 (44); Kenwood 1974 (151); Conwy 2009 (6)
Provenance
William Lock of Norbury; his sale, Sotheby's, London 3-7 May 1821; Marianne Ford; thence by descent
Signature/inscription
Signed lower left below border: R.W.f.
Dated lower right below border: 1754
Related Drawings
D286 Composition: Landscape with Figures on a Bridge, Private Collection, England
Critical commentary
Although the composition is almost certainly based on a scene in Rome, the church in the background bears only a superifical resemblance to St Peter's on the evidence of its dome. The sculpture seems to be a Madonna and Child but the exaggerated postures of the worshipping figures lend the image a note of satire. Close to D286 Composition: Landscape with Figures on a Bridge, Private Collection, England in technique, manner, presentation, dimensions and presumably date.
Bibliography
Ford 1951, p. 55, pl. 26; Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 72, RF87; Lord 2009, p. 50 no. 6