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    300 years
    Return to "Sherlock" is linked to these Works 4 items
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    River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning')

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    River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning')
    River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning')
    River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning')
    The Trustees of the British Museum
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    Artist
    William Pengree Sherlock after Wilson
    Title
    River, Sea-Coast and circular Ruin ('Morning')
    Date
    c.1800-1820
    Medium
    Lithograph on chine collé
    Dimensions
    Metric: 184 x 254 mm
    Imperial: 7 1/4 x 10 in.
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    1873,0809.1415
    Wilson Online Reference
    E64
    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 Italian building with campanile appears among trees to the left before a mountain in the distance.
    Provenance
    Bought from Mary Jane Deeson, 40 Ebury Street, Pimlico, 1873
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image: 'IN THE COLLECTION OF W. LEADER, ESQR. M.P.' and production detail: 'Richd. Wilson R.A. Pinxt', 'W. P. Sherlock Fecit'
    Numbered lower centre: 4
    Subject
    The exact location of the view has been much debated but 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, London
    Related Prints
    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
    E73 Samuel Reynolds after Wilson, Morning, The British Museum (1879,0614.334) and other impressions
    Related Paintings
    P92 An Italian Landscape (Morning) Classical Landscape, Private Collection, England
    P92A River, Sea Coast and circular Ruin, Private Collection, England
    P92B An Italian Landscape, Morning, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    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.
    Bibliography
    Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 283
    Updated by Compiler
    2017-09-13 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

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

    Prints

    • 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

    Paintings

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

    Biographies

    • William Pengree Sherlock (Born 1775)
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