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    300 years
    Return to "Birmingham 1948-49" is linked to these Works 90 items
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    The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham

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    The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham
    The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham
    The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham
    Tate, London 2014
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham
    Date
    c.1762 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 46.4 x 73 cm
    Imperial: 18 1/4 x 28 3/4 in.
    Collection
    Tate, London. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    N04874
    Wilson Online Reference
    P89A
    Description
    The view is taken from the south side of the Thames near Petersham and shows the prospect upstream towards Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, with the pediment of Marble Hill House visible through the trees to the right. In the foreground a man is leaning against a tree with another, evidently a swimmer, seated next to him. To their left a laden barge is sailing downstream while two horses and a rider head in the opposite direction on the near bank. Beyond, the afternoon sun breaks through fleecy clouds, which are reflected in the water.
    Exhibited
    BI 1814 (200/204 - Small landscape, lent John Knight, Esq.); Manchester 1857 (Modern Masters, 37 - View on the Thames near Marble Hill); BI 1866 (148); Birmingham 1948-49 (37); London 1949 (36); Hamburg 1949-50 (116)
    Provenance
    John Knight (1767-1850), Lea Castle, Wolverley, Worcestershire, 52 Portland Place, London, and Simonsbath House, Exmoor; sold Christie's 24 March 1819 (152 - A Small Landscape); William Beckford; sold Fonthill sale, 26th Day, 14 October 1823 (243); Duke of Newcastle, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire, passed to Earl of Lincoln; sold Christie's 4 June 1937 (124, repr. sale catalogue), purchased by the National Gallery; transferred to the Tate Gallery, 1955
    Signature/inscription
    Signed in monogram lower left centre: RW [monogram, the R reversed]
    Techniques and materials
    Drying oil on primed and stretched canvas (linen); coarse weave. A large style in a small picture. Beautiful details include the figures, swans and fence.
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Stamp, upper horizontal member of stretcher: 592GK
    Labels
    From stretcher:
    [1] His Grace the Duke of Newcastle [C19 script];
    [2] City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. R. Wilson | The Thames at Twickenham | lent by the National Gallery, London | 37 [K. Garlick's handwriting];
    [3] British Council Fine Arts Department | Scandinavia 1949-50 British Painting 1949-50 no. 116
    Subject
    The Thames at Twickenham was a fashionable location, which had attracted painters from the 1720s. The region had come to acquire an elevated status by the third quarter of the 18th century from the presence and publications of Alexander Pope, who made Twickenham his home from 1719 until his death in 1744 and was much involved in the planning of the gardens at Marble Hill. As a Palladian villa, Marble Hill House could claim kinship with both the great Venetian Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio (1508-80) and the architectural heritage of ancient Rome. Later Sir Joshua Reynolds was amongst those who lived in the area.
    Related Prints
    E72/31 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, On the Thames, The British Museum (1854,0708.88)
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Works by Other Artists
    Peter Tillemans (c.1684-1734), View of the Thames at Twickenham, c.1720-25, Richmond upon Thames Borough Art Collection, Orleans House, London
    Critical commentary
    This painting is cooler in tone with a more liberal use of cool green and blue-green than P89 (Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery). The large number of versions confirms this as one of Wilson's most popular English subjects. P89A is one of four versions known to have been painted by him. A further twelve copies dating from the 18th and 19th centuries have also been identified.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    4874
    Bibliography
    Catalogue 1814, p. 22; Waagen 1857, p. 511 - 'A landscape with a piece of water. Very attractive'; Davies 1946, pp. 179-80, cat. 4874; Davies 1959, pp. 106-107; WGC p. 187 under pl. 57a; Solkin 2015, pp. 213-14
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/70
    More Information
    Marble Hill House was built for Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk and mistress of King George II. Roger Morris oversaw the construction of the house, which was completed in 1729. It was later occupied by Mrs Fitzherbert, mistress and morganatic wife of King George IV.
    Condition/Conservation
    Dimensions in frame: 62.5 x 89.5 x 8.5 cm. Drying cracks in the sky have been retouched and there may be something underneath.
    Kate Lowry has noted: Reserve around foliage against the sky at right. Old drying cracks in the sky have been retouched and these have blanched slightly.
    Updated by Compiler
    2021-03-23 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, On the Thames., The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) View on the Thames near Twickenham, Marble Hill House, English Heritage, Marble Hill House, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)and later intervention, View on the Thames near Twickenham, Marble Hill House, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
    • Studio of Wilson, The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) View on the Thames near Twickenham, Private Collection, England

    Exhibitions

    • Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
    • London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
    • London, British Institution, 1814
    • Hamburg, Kunsthalle, 15 October - 12 November 1949
    • Manchester, Exhibition Hall, 5 May - 17 October 1857

    Biographies

    • Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk (1688-1767)
    • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: The British School
    • Gustav Waagen, Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain
    • Anonymous, Catalogue of Pictures by the late William Hogarth, Richard Wilson, Thomas Gainsborough, and J. Zoffani. Exhibited by permission of the proprietors in honour of the memory of those distinguished artists, and for the improvement of British art
    • David Solkin, Art in Britain 1660-1815
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