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    300 years
    Return to "Manchester 1925" is linked to these Works 42 items
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    River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin

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    River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin
    River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin
    River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin
    Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin
    Date
    c.1765 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 76.2 x 98 cm
    Imperial: 30 x 39 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, England
    Accession Number
    BB20
    Wilson Online Reference
    P92A
    Description
    A classical landscape, with a man and two women conversing by a lake or river on a high bank near an open sarcophagus with antique medallion motif in the left foreground. To the right are two arches of a ruined bridge with a ruined circular building above and behind. A carefully observed group of buildings with a campanile appear among trees to the left before a mountain in the distance. A prominent tower or light-house on a cliff-top illuminated by diagonal rays of sunlight beyond overlooks a wide expanse of sea with ships distantly discernible.
    Exhibited
    BI 1814 (158); Brighton 1920 (13); London 1925 (81 - Vale of Narni); Manchester 1925 (68); Exeter 1946 (58); Paris 1953 (93 - Paysage italien); Leicester 1953 (81 - Italian landscape); London 1968 (13); Conwy 2009 (16); Weston 2011 (18); Gainsborough House 2014 (unnumbered)
    Provenance
    Edward Penny R.A.; Benjamin Booth; The Revd R.S. Booth; Lady Ford; Richard Ford; Sir Francis Clare Ford; John G. Ford; Sir Brinsley Ford; thence by descent
    Signature/inscription
    Signed in monogram on stone at centre right: RW [the R reversed]
    Subject
    The exact location of the view has been much debated and the scene is almost certainly a capriccio centred on the so-called Temple of Venus at Baia near Naples (see Critical Commentary below). The marble sarcophagus in the foreground is very much an invention of Wilson's and cannot be considered conventional in form, with its square shape, flat open top and oval decoration.
    Related Drawings
    D271 Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus, Victoria & Albert Museum (Dyce.647)
    Related Prints
    E64 William Sherlock after Wilson, River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning'), The British Museum (1873,0809.1415) and other impressions
    E72/14 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Temple of Venus with Part of the Bay of Baiae, The British Museum (1854,0708.71) and other impressions
    E72/40 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Landscape (River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin), The British Museum (1854,0708.97) and other impressions
    E73 Samuel Reynolds after Wilson, Morning, The British Museum (1879,0614.334) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    The composition has been known under several titles, notably The Temple of Venus at Baiae but at first sight the temple does not seem to be the same building as in D271 or in the famous Turner painting of the Bay of Baiae in Tate, London (N00505). However, Robin Simon has recently observed that the building is in fact the same (actually baths rather than a temple) but seen from the opposite side, revealing the ruined open aspect of the structure. He further has identified the landscape in the middle distance as resembling the view looking out from the Bay of Pozzuoli and the town of Baia towards Naples - an area much favoured by Wilson. The present version was mistakenly described as Vale of Narni when exhibited in 1925 at the Tate Gallery. It is typical of those Wilson produced in the decade or so after his return to London from Italy in 1757. It retains the freshness and delicacy of handling that mark the canvases painted in Italy, together with the brilliance and heightening of colours that are characteristic of his pictures c.1758-65.
    Bibliography
    Booth Notes Doc. 5, p. 2 (A Temple in Ruins & View of Bay of Naples); Booth Notes, Doc. 9 (47); H.D. Roberts, Connoisseur, May 1920; WGC, pp. 47, 75, 93, 217, pl.106a (image mistakenly illustrates P92B); Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 16, BB20; Lord 2009, p. 55, no. 16; Williams 2011, p. 29, repr.; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 283
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/123
    Updated by Compiler
    2021-03-10 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Bay of Baiae - Temple of Venus, Victoria & Albert Museum, London

    Prints

    • William Pengree Sherlock after Wilson, River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning'), The British Museum
    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Temple of Venus with Part of the Bay of Baiae, The British Museum
    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Landscape (River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin), The British Museum
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Morning, The British Museum
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Morning,The British Museum
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Landscape with Ruins (Morning), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Morning, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Morning, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) An Italian Landscape, Morning (River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin) (The Temple of Venus at Baiae), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) An Italian Landscape, Morning (River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin), Private Collection, England

    Exhibitions

    • 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
    • Weston Park, The Granary Art Gallery, 2 April - 3 July 2011
    • Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie des Tuileries, February - April 1953
    • 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)
    • 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)
    • Edward Penny, R.A. (1714-1791)
    • Sir Francis Clare Ford (1828-1899)
    • John G. Ford (-1917)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Peter Lord, Richard Wilson. Life & Legacy
    • Brinsley Ford and other authors, The Ford Collection
    • Gareth Williams, Masterpieces from the Ford Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 5: List of Wilson's Works with Owners
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 9: List of Wilson's Landscapes with Sizes and former Owners
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