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    300 years
    "London, Cardiff and New Haven 1982-83" is linked to these Works
    of 146

    The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall, Cheshire

    The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall, Cheshire
    The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall, Cheshire
    The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall, Cheshire
    The Art Institute of Chicago, The Leonora Gurley Memorial
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall, Cheshire
    Date
    c.1759-60 (undated)
    Medium
    Black chalk with white highlighting on grey-blue laid paper, faded to brown, laid down on card
    Dimensions
    Metric: 187 x 304 mm
    Imperial: 7 3/8 x 12 in.
    Collection
    The Art Institute of Chicago, The Leonora Gurley Memorial Collection. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    1922.1675
    Wilson Online Reference
    D354
    Description
    Two lovers recline in the lower right foreground. To the left a boat contains two figures, one of whom leans out towards a swimmer. Three large horned cattle graze on the left bank of the river. In the distant centre ground a half-timbered house with a single tall chimney is visible and on the bank in front of it is a tiny figure. The river is full of sensitive reflections.
    Exhibited
    London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (84)
    Provenance
    Paul Sandby; William Esdaile; Sir Thomas Lawrence (?); Leonora Gurley; acquired by the Art Institute, 1922
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; inscribed on the hedge in front of the cattle: red [or hedge]
    Techniques and materials
    This seems to be the latest of Wilson's known chalk drawings on grey paper, the medium he had adopted while in Italy. After this he tended to use chalks on buff paper or pencil. His use of white chalk is here reserved almost exclusively to represent the clouds and their reflections in the river.
    Collectors' marks
    [1] Recto lower left corner: Paul Sandby (Lugt 2112)
    [2] Recto lower left corner: William Esdaile (Lugt 2617)
    [3] Recto lower left corner: Sir Thomas Lawrence (Lugt 2445) (?)
    [3] Recto lower left corner: Leonora Gurley
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Upper centre, pencil old hand: No. 4
    [2] Upper centre, pencil: a dirammatic wing and 1223
    [3] Centre, stamped: LEONORA HALL GURLEY | MEMORIAL COLLECTION
    [4] Lower left, black ink: 22.1675
    [5] Lower right in pencil by Paul Sandby: 'Banks of the River Dee in Cheshire | I once had the picture of this | P.S. | sold it to Sr S. Clarke | it was painted for a friend of Wilsons one Hughes an oil m ...| ...[from] whom I bought it'
    [6] Lower left, black ink: Paul Sandby's colln 1811. WE. P116 N 951 Banks of the Dee. Cheshire. | Wilson
    Mount inscriptions
    [1] Recto lower left, pencil: Exhib 1924 "Very nice - Richard Wilson," A.M.H
    [2] Recto lower centre, black ink: Wilson | View on the Banks of the Dee
    [3] Recto lower centre, pencil: fine provenance: Paul Sandby | William Esdaile | ? Thos Lawrence
    Subject
    Eaton Hall was the country seat of the 1st Earl Grosvenor
    Related Prints
    E25 Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire (Landscape with River, three Figures in a Rowing Boat), The British Museum
    E25A Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    E71/1 John Young after Wilson, View on the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, The British Museum
    Related Paintings
    P86 The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Birmingham
    P86A The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Petworth House, National Trust
    P86B The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The Courtauld Gallery, London
    P86C The River Dee near Eaton Hall (View of the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, Cheshire), Tyntesfield, National Trust
    P86D Ascribed to Wilson, The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Private Collection, North America
    NWP86E Ascribed to Wilson, The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
    P86H The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Private Collection, England
    Critical commentary
    David Solkin has noted that the painting mentioned by Paul Sandby (Verso inscriptions [5]) is unknown and that this drawing does not correspond to any of the extant versions. Thus while the drawing may record a lost work, it seems more likely to be a finished model intended for a patron's approval or comment.
    Bibliography
    Solkin 1978, p. 407, pl. 24b; Solkin 1982, pp. 198-99
    Condition/Conservation
    Good condition overall. Some minor single spots upper left and lower right.

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire (Landscape with River, three Figures in a Rowing Boat), The British Museum
    • Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • John Young after Wilson, View on the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, The British Museum

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, Birmingham
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Petworth House, National Trust
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The Courtauld Gallery, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The River Dee near Eaton Hall (View of the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, Cheshire), Tyntesfield, National Trust
    • Ascribed to Wilson, The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Private Collection, North America
    • Ascribed to Wilson, The River Dee near Eaton Hall, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
    • The River Dee near Eaton Hall, Private Collection, England

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983

    Biographies

    • William Esdaile (1758-1837)
    • Paul Sandby (c.1730-1809)

    Documents

    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • David Solkin, 'Some New Light on the Drawings of Richard Wilson'
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