Skip to Content
Log InRegister
    HomePaintingsDrawingsPrintsBrowse All WorksWilson CollectionsWilson Collections MapTercentenary ExhibitionOther ExhibitionsProject HighlightsThemes and MediaBiographiesBibliographical Resources
    Advanced Search
    Work of ArtBiographiesExhibitionsBibliographical Resources
    Settings
    Pages
    300 years
    Return to "Manchester 1925" is linked to these Works 42 items
    of 42

    Cicero's Villa (On the Strada Nomentana - III)

    This item is active and ready to use
    Cicero's Villa (On the Strada Nomentana - III)
    Cicero's Villa (On the Strada Nomentana - III)
    Cicero's Villa (On the Strada Nomentana - III)
    Manchester City Galleries
    title=Credit line
    Larger ImageShareFeedback
    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Cicero's Villa (On the Strada Nomentana - III)
    Date
    1760-63
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 101.6 x 127 cm
    Imperial: 40 x 50 in.
    Collection
    Manchester City Galleries. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    1897.1
    Wilson Online Reference
    P106
    Description
    Rural scene looking past the ruins of 'Cicero's Villa' in Italy and out towards a lake and landscape. In the foreground, a woman and child rest beside the water's edge as a horse is led towards them. To the left, a single cow is visible on the shore, its image reflected in the water below. In the background, hills can be seen to the right and in the distance. The sun sets on the horizon, casting a haze over the landscape.
    Exhibited
    RA Old Masters 1877 (16 - Landscape, with tall ruins on the right; lake in foreground; hills in distance); Agnew 1896 (14 - Cicero's Villa, Forinarum [sic]); Manchester 1925 (61); Birmingham 1948-49 (41 - Cicero's Villa); London 1949 (40 - On the Strada Nomentana)
    Provenance
    Probably Edward Cock (1805-1892), President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Southwark; with J. & W. Vokins, 14, Great Portland Street; with Agnew 1896; purchased by the City Art Gallery, Manchester, 1897
    Subject
    Cicero owned a number of villas in Italy but none is identifiable here and the title is probably fanciful.
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    W.G. Constable noted that the title, which has no authority, has led to confusion with the paintings of Cicero at his Villa (P162 & versions) and the Bay of Baiae from Posillipo with Cicero's Villa (P186). Also, because of the likeness of the ruin and its setting to those in the Strada Nomentana paintings (P104 & P105), the present composition too has been given that title. He rightly observed that the ruin is more like the remains of a tomb than a villa.
    Bibliography
    Manchester City Art Gallery, Annual Report, 1949, pls I & II; WGC, pp. 89, 111n., 169, 197, pl. 75a; Concise Catalogue of British Paintings, Manchester City Art Gallery, 1976, vol. 1, p. 203
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/82
    Condition/Conservation
    The horse and man, hidden under the repaint of a nineteenth-century restorer, were revealed when the picture was cleaned in 1949.
    Kate Lowry has noted: Generally a warm gingery brown tone. Seated woman in foreground and boy leading a horse downhill left of centre are not very convincing, but pentiment visible around top of the ruin upper right suggests this is not a copy and the foliage placed over a reserved area in the sky upper right is typical of Wilson. There is also a group of distant birds in the upper left sky which are a typical Wilson feature. The painting appears to be glue relined and there is a large blanched retouch in sky just above horizon at left edge. It is possible that the figures have been retouched.
    Updated by Compiler
    2020-11-16 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Cicero's Villa (On the Strada Nomentana - III), Koriyama City Museum of Art, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

    Exhibitions

    • Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
    • London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
    • Manchester City Art Gallery, 22 October - 5 December 1925

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    © Richard Wilson OnlineCreditsCopyright & DisclaimerPrivacy