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    300 years
    Return to "New Haven 1981" is linked to these Works 13 items
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    Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 20(v) and 21(r)

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    Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 20(v) and 21(r)
    Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 20(v) and 21(r)
    Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 20(v) and 21(r)
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 20(v) and 21(r)
    Date
    1754
    Medium
    Graphite with black and white chalk on medium, rough, blued white wove paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: 281 x 210 mm (each sheet)
    Imperial: 11 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. (each sheet)
    Collection
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here
    Accession Number
    B1977.14.359 v20 & r21
    Wilson Online Reference
    D280/20
    Description
    20(v) is an outline view of a bridge in a wooded river valley with a tower in the distance
    21(r) depicts a strigated sarcophagus at an oblique angle surmounted by the feet of a colossal female figure
    Exhibited
    New Haven 1981 (90 & 90a)
    Provenance
    Oldfield Bowles; given to Sir George Beaumont, 1784; thence by descent until 1963, when sold to Paul Mellon
    Signature/inscription
    21(r) inscribed upper left in black chalk: Medici
    Subject
    20(v) The landscape is unidentified
    21(r) This late 3rd century sarcophagus of a baker and his wife was drawn by Wilson in the garden of the Villa Medici but its provenance is obscure. The colossal female figure above represents the Goddess Roma. It was originally purchased by Cardinal d'Este for his garden in the Quirinal and was later given by Pope Gregory XIII to Cardinal Medici whose collection was housed at the Villa Medici, now the Académie Nationale de France, where it remains.
    Related Prints
    E72/4 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Villa Emelia, 1820, The British Museum
    E72/4A Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Villa Emelia, 1820, The British Museum
    Related Paintings
    P117 Villa Emiliana near Rome, Private Collection, England
    P117A Villa Emiliana near Rome, Private Collection, Scotland
    Critical commentary
    Clements noted that the slightly damaged striated marble sarcophagus has a roundel (clipeus) at its centre bearing the bust of a baker and his wife and beneath, two men - one pouring the contents of a barrel into a sack. At each side is a large figure - one male, one female. A similar sarcophagus appears in P117 Villa Emiliana near Rome, Private Collection, England, and other paintings by Wilson.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Object ID: 6363
    Bibliography
    Sutton & Clements 1968, vol. 1, pp. 19-20; vol. 2, pp. 39-40
    More Information
    Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D280-D280/33) and D53-D53/81 Studies and Designs by R. Wilson done in Rome in the Year MDCCLII, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.3586-1922).
    Updated by Compiler
    2016-07-15 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Prints

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

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Villa Emiliana near Rome, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Villa Emiliana near Rome, Private Collection, Scotland

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, 29 July - 20 September 1981

    Biographies

    • Paul Mellon (1907-1999)
    • Oldfield Bowles (1739-1810)
    • Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827)

    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 Drawings Yale Center for British Art 1754" sketchbook
    View sketchbook pages
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