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

    The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens

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    The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens
    The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens
    The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens
    Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens
    Date
    c.1760-62 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 47 x 72.7 cm
    Imperial: 18 1/2 x 28 5/8 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, England
    Accession Number
    BB18
    Wilson Online Reference
    P108
    Description
    A road, curving between banks covered with trees and bushes, leads through a ruined archway in the Roman style. Beyond to the left are cypresses and a cedar. An artist can be seen drawing lower left and through the arch a female nude statue is visible.
    Exhibited
    SA 1762 (130 - A View of a ruin, in her royal highness the princess dowager of Wales' garden at Kew); Brighton 1920 (22 - Villa Borghese); London 1925 (33 - Villa Borghese); Manchester 1925 (30 - Villa Borghese); London 1934 (178 - Villa Borghese, Rome); Amsterdam 1936 (176); Exeter 1946 (64 - Villa Borghese, Rome); Birmingham 1948-49 (24); London 1949 (23); Paris 1953 (94); Montreal 1957 (76); on loan to Kenwood, 1959-60; London 1968 (6); London 1973-74 (35); Munich 1979-80 (56); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (97); London 1996-97 (232); Conwy 2009 (15); Weston 2011 (17); Tercentenary 2014 (76)
    Provenance
    Stated by Benjamin Booth to have been offered by the painter through Sir William Chambers to George III but refused; Benjamin Booth; Revd R.S. Booth; Lady (Marianne) Ford; Richard Ford; Sir Francis Clare Ford; Captain Richard Ford; Sir Brinsley Ford; thence by descent
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Techniques and materials
    The sky at the left and the cedar tree are unusually cursory in technique
    Subject
    Kew Gardens lie on the opposite side of the Thames from Syon House. Kew Park was enlarged and embellished by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales from 1759, when the arch was built 'to make a passage for carriages and cattle, over one of the principal walks of the garden' [and] 'to imitate antiquity'. (W. Chambers, 'A Description of the Palace and Gardens at Kew, the seat of the Princess Dowager of Wales', Royal Magazine, September 1763, p. 154).
    Related Drawings
    D357/1 The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens (recto), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    D357/2 Sketch of an Urn (verso), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    D357A A Ruin, Arch at Kew Gardens, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
    Related Prints
    E72/17 Thomas Hastings after Wilson,Villa Borghese, The British Museum (1854,0708.74) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P109 The Pagoda and Palladian Bridge in Kew Gardens, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection (pendant)
    Critical commentary
    The classical reference of the ruined arch is reinforced by the Mediterranean trees and the brilliant lighting. The supposed ancient significance of the building is emphasised by the figure of the artist drawing at the left. This painting and P109 (see 'Related Paintings'), similar in size and both depicting Kew subjects, are likely to have been the two works said to have been offered to George III by Wilson but refused. Wilson's connections with Kew also involved decorating the ceiling of the Mosque, now lost, with a 'brilliant sunny sky' (J. Harris). From 1822 until 1948 P108 was thought to represent a site in the grounds of the Villa Borghese, Rome on account of the erroneous title given by Thomas Hastings to his engraving of that date (E72/17). Indeed, Wilson has made the setting more Italianate than in reality by introducing a cedar and changing the poplars into cypresses. Like the Palladian bridge in P109 the ruined arch was designed by William Chambers to reflect the current fashion for antiquities.
    Bibliography
    Sir William Chambers, Plans, elevations, sections, and perspective views of the gardens and buildings at Kew in Surry, London 1763, p. 7; Sir W. Chambers, 'A Description of the Palace and Gardens at Kew', The Royal Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Companion, September 1763, p. 154; Booth Notes Doc. 4, p. 3; Booth Notes Doc. 8, p. 2; Booth Notes Doc. 9 (36); Cunningham 1830; H.D. Roberts, 'The Ford Collection of Works by Richard Wilson,' Connoisseur, LVII, May 1920, p. 28, repr.; Commemorative Catalogue 1934 (110 - Villa Borghese, Rome, pl. XXXVIII); Cooper 1948 2, pp. 346-48, fig. 12; WGC, pp. 49, 72, 88, 178-79, pl. 41a; Parris 1973, pp. 30-31; Solkin 1982, pp. 209-10; J. Harris and M. Snodin, eds, Sir William Chambers, Architect to George III, exh. cat., 1997, pp. 55-67, fig. 93; Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 16, BB18, pl. 15; R. Strong, The Artist and the Garden, 2000, pp. 255-58, Lord 2009, p. 55; Williams 2011, p. 28 repr.; Wilson and Europe 2014, pp. 262-63
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/49
    Updated by Compiler
    2021-02-19 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens (recto), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • Sketch of an Urn (verso), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • A Ruin, Arch at Kew Gardens, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Villa Borghese, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Kew Gardens, Surrey, Ruined Arch, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery

    Paintings

    • The Pagoda and Palladian Bridge in Kew Gardens, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven (Pendant)

    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
    • Brighton, Fine Art Galleries, 28 February - 2 May 1920
    • London, National Gallery, Millbank (Tate Gallery), 26 June - 30 September 1925
    • Manchester City Art Gallery, 22 October - 5 December 1925
    • Conwy, Royal Cambrian Academy, 24 October - 23 December 2009
    • London, Tate Gallery, 20 November 1973 - 3 February 1974
    • Munich, Haus der Kunst, 21 November 1979 - 27 January 1980
    • Weston Park, The Granary Art Gallery, 2 April - 3 July 2011
    • Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie des Tuileries, February - April 1953
    • London, Royal Academy, 6 January - 17 March 1934
    • Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, 4 July - 4 October 1936
    • London, Royal Academy, 14 December 1968 - 2 March 1969
    • Tate Gallery, London and Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 10 October 1996 - 5 January 1997 and 5 February - 7 April 1997
    • Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 7 March - 5 April 1946
    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014
    • Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1957-58

    Biographies

    • Benjamin Booth (1732-1807)
    • Sir William Chambers (1722-1796)
    • Richard Ford (1796-1858)
    • Sir Brinsley Ford (1908-1999)
    • The Revd Richard Salwey Booth (1762-1807)
    • Elizabeth Booth (1763-1819)
    • Marianne Booth, Lady Ford (1767-1849)
    • Sir Richard Ford (1758-1806)
    • Sir Francis Clare Ford (1828-1899)
    • Captain Richard Ford (1860-1940)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Peter Lord, Richard Wilson. Life & Legacy
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Douglas Cooper, 'Richard Wilson's Views of Kew'
    • Brinsley Ford and other authors, The Ford Collection
    • Leslie Parris, Landscape in Britain, 1750-1850
    • Gareth Williams, Masterpieces from the Ford Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 4: Biographical Fragments and abandoned List of Works
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 8: List of Wilson's Paintings and Works by Old Masters and other Artists in Booth's Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 9: List of Wilson's Landscapes with Sizes and former Owners
    • Allan Cunningham, The Lives of the most eminent British Painters, Sculptors and Architects
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