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    300 years
    Return to "Kenwood 1974" is linked to these Works 12 items
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    Harbour Scene

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    Harbour Scene
    Harbour Scene
    Harbour Scene
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Harbour Scene
    Date
    Dated lower right: 1753
    Medium
    Black chalk and stump with white heightening on grey laid paper; some heightening of figures in black ink
    Dimensions
    Metric: 210 x 177 mm
    Imperial: 8 3/16 x 6 15/16 in.
    Collection
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    NMW A 5763
    Wilson Online Reference
    D218
    Description
    Two figures are seen on a jetty, with bundles nearby. A boat approaches them from the left. In the middle distance on the left is a large classical building with a round tower.
    Exhibited
    London 1925 (97 - Classical Landscape); Birmingham 1948-49 (69); London 1949 (68); Kenwood 1974 (150); London, Cardiff and New Haven 1982-83 (29)
    Provenance
    James Pyke Thompson; Clothier Sale, Penarth; given to the Museum by Barry Eisteddfod Fund, 30 June 1921
    Signature/inscription
    Signed lower left in ink: R.W.f.
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Lower left pencil: illegible marks
    Critical commentary
    An idyllic, atmospheric study of a port in the evening, concentrating on the sunset effect, this was probably drawn in Venice (though by 1753 Wilson was based in Rome).. David Solkin noted the comparison of the simple design with the calm seaports of Claude-Joseph Vernet, who lived in Rome from 1734 to 1753, was particularly popular with British patrons and encouraged Wilson to concentrate on landscape rather than portraiture.
    Bibliography
    Ford 1951, pp. 25 & 58, pl. 47; Cardiff 1961, pp. 16-17; Solkin 1982, pp. 160-61; L. Meyer, Les Paysages Anglais, Paris, 1992

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983
    • Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
    • London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
    • London, Kenwood House, Iveagh Bequest, 8 June - 27 August 1974

    Documents

    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Brinsley Ford, The Drawings of Richard Wilson
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