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    300 years
    Return to "Brighton 1920" is linked to these Works 39 items
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    Lake Nemi with two Friars

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    Lake Nemi with two Friars
    Lake Nemi with two Friars
    Lake Nemi with two Friars
    Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Lake Nemi with two Friars
    Date
    Dated 1768
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 49.5 x 71.8 cm
    Imperial: 19 1/2 x 28 1/4 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, England
    Accession Number
    BB26
    Wilson Online Reference
    P159
    Description
    The view is from the southern shores of Lake Nemi and includes the town of Genzano on the left with Nemi in the distance on the extreme right. Beyond and to the left of Nemi, is the peak of Monte Cavo.
    Exhibited
    SA 1768 (190); BI 1814 (170 - Lake Nemi); BI 1851 (139); RA 1881-82 (45); London, Grosvenor Gallery, A Century of British Art from 1737 to 1837, 1887-88 (180); Guildhall 1908 (47); Brighton 1920 (20 - Lake of Albano); London 1925 (52); London 1934 (181 - Lake Albano); Exeter 1946 (61 - Lake Albano); Birmingham 1948-49 (24); London 1949 (23); Leicester 1953 (80); on loan to Kenwood, 1959-60; London 1968 (20); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (129); Conwy 2009 (23); Weston 2011 (23); Gainsborough's House 2014 (unnumbered)
    Provenance
    Sir George Beaumont by 1768 - perhaps bt directly from Wilson; Benjamin Booth; the Revd R.S. Booth; Lady Ford; Richard Ford; Sir Francis Clare Ford; John G. Ford; Capt. Richard Ford; Sir Brinsley Ford; by descent
    Signature/inscription
    Signed and dated with monogram lower left: RW [the R reversed] 1768
    Related Drawings
    D28 Two Friars, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    D221 Lake Nemi with Two Friars, Victoria & Albert Museum (DYCE.643)
    Related Prints
    E72/3 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Lake of Albano, [sic] The British Museum
    E72/3A Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Lake Albano, [sic] The British Museum
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Works by Other Artists
    [1] Francis Towne (1739-1816): The Lake of Nemi, watercolour, 1781, The British Museum (Nn,3.4)
    [2] Joseph Wright of Derby, Lake Nemi, 1790-95, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven.
    The view was painted by many British artists after Wilson, including Thomas Jones and William Pars.
    Critical commentary
    This is one of several versions of this composition. Wilson is looking back to earlier Italian compositions, here enlivened by the variety of buildings on the left and the presence of the friars in the foreground. Wandering friars would have been a common sight in Italy but they are here employed so as to enliven the foreground of the picture and to present a contemplative focus for the underlying order of the landscape. Although Booth referred to the composition as 'Lake Gensano ... Nemi in the distance', Hastings, when he etched it, called it 'Lake Albano' (see Related Prints).
    Bibliography
    Booth Notes Doc. 9 (35); Commemorative Catalogue 1934 (102, pl. XXXIX); WGC, pp. 73, 91-3, 207, pl. 94b; Solkin 1982, p. 235, no. 129; Egerton 1990, pp. 185-86; Lord 2009, p. 59, no.232; Williams 2011, pp. 34-35, repr.
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/104
    Updated by Compiler
    2018-11-09 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Two Friars, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Lake Nemi with Two Friars, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Lake of Albano, The British Museum
    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Lake of Albano, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Lake Nemi with Two Friars, Private Collection, UK

    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
    • Brighton, Fine Art Galleries, 28 February - 2 May 1920
    • London, National Gallery, Millbank (Tate Gallery), 26 June - 30 September 1925
    • Conwy, Royal Cambrian Academy, 24 October - 23 December 2009
    • Weston Park, The Granary Art Gallery, 2 April - 3 July 2011
    • London, Royal Academy, 14 December 1968 - 2 March 1969
    • Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 7 March - 5 April 1946
    • Sudbury, Gainsborough's House, 11 January - 31 May 2014
    • Leicester Museums and Art Gallery, June - July 1953

    Biographies

    • Benjamin Booth (1732-1807)
    • 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 George Beaumont (1753-1827)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Peter Lord, Richard Wilson. Life & Legacy
    • Judy Egerton, Wright of Derby
    • Gareth Williams, Masterpieces from the Ford Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 9: List of Wilson's Landscapes with Sizes and former Owners
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