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    300 years
    Return to "London, Cardiff and New Haven 1982-83" is linked to these Works 146 items
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    Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 12

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    Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 12
    Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 12
    Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 12
    Victoria & Albert Museum, London
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752, p. 12
    Date
    1752
    Medium
    Black chalk on white paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: 188 x 130 mm (volume: 203 x 143 mm)
    Imperial: 8 x 5 5/8 in.
    Collection
    Victoria & Albert Museum, London. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    E.3586-1922
    Wilson Online Reference
    D53/12
    Description
    Two figures on horseback cross an antique shallow-arched stone bridge over a river in a town, followed by another on foot
    Exhibited
    London, Cardiff and New Haven 1982-83 (21)
    Provenance
    Bt about 1922 from Miss Alice J. Bowles
    Signature/inscription
    Numbered below the image lower right: 30
    Page numbered upper right corner: 12
    Related Prints
    E60/4, John Whessell after Wilson, Studies and Designs: Figures on Horseback crossing a Bridge, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    Critical commentary
    Wilson's commitment to landscape made soon after his arrival in Rome in late 1751 initiated a sustained burst of activity as a draughtsman which was to gain momentum over the next few years. One major piece of evidence for the seriousness with which he took his new career is provided by the pages of this surviving sketchbook from 1752. Although it contains a number of rapid sketches from nature and the antique, most of its leaves are filled with imaginary essays in landscape design, usually incorporating classical themes such as antique ruins but presented in a rococo manner, and, as noted by Solkin, 'using lazy curving forms and often capricious combinations of architectural motifs in a way that still recalls the works of Zuccarelli.' Increasingly, however, Wilson came to adopt a more naturalistic style.
    The present page was reproduced as a soft-ground etching by John Whessell and published by Robert Archer in 1811 (E60/4).
    Bibliography
    Sutton & Clements 1968, pp. 15-16, fig. 20; Solkin 1982, pp. 152, 157
    More Information
    Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D53-D53/81) and D280-D280/33 Italian Sketchbook - Drawings, 1754, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • John Whessell after Wilson, Studies and Designs: Figures on Horseback crossing a Bridge, National Museum Wales, Cardiff

    Exhibitions

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

    Documents

    • Denys Sutton & Ann Clements, An Italian Sketchbook by Richard Wilson, RA: Drawings made by the Artist in Rome and its Environs in the Year 1754
    This drawing is part of the "Italian Sketchbook Victoria & Albert Museum 1752" sketchbook
    View sketchbook pages
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