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    An Italian River Scene, with the Temple of Clitumnus and Ruins…

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    An Italian River Scene, with the Temple of Clitumnus and Ruins…
    An Italian River Scene, with the Temple of Clitumnus and Ruins…
    An Italian River Scene, with the Temple of Clitumnus and Ruins…
    Collection of Richard L. Feigen
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    An Italian River Scene, with the Temple of Clitumnus and Ruins, two Figures and Cows
    Date
    c.1753 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 48.9 x 73.7 cm
    Imperial: 19 1/4 by 29 in.
    Collection
    Collection of Richard L. Feigen. To license images click here.
    Wilson Online Reference
    P65B
    Description
    Wilson himself is said to have described this view as 'the [...] Scenery taken from the long-famed Clitumnus, near the once mystic Temple of Juno, which I have herein restored from its state in ruins, as seen near the source gently cascading into the streamlet, from whence flows that classic river. The period of time described produces the effects of those lights, &c. which succeed to the dawn of day, interspersed with the vapours and subdued tints that accompany the morning atmosphere.' (Christie's sale catalogue, 28 June 1814 (82))
    Exhibited
    SA 1761 (136 - a version, as companion to The Bridge at Rimini); probably BI 1814 (152/155 A Landscape or 153/156 A View near Rome); BI 1824 (176); BI 1844 (164); Leeds 1868 (1189 - Landscape - Sunset, lent J.H. Hawkins); Birmingham 1948-49 (4 - lent by T.W. Bacon); London 1949 (3); New York 2010 (5)
    Provenance
    Probably James Paine; his sale, Christie's 28 June 1814 (82 - A beautiful Landscape, painted with brilliant effect. This picture and the following were purchased from the Artist's easel by the present proprietor, who has never before allowed them to pass out of his possession.); Mr Gray of Leadenhall Street, London; John Hawkins (c.1758-1841) , Bignor Park, Sussex; his son, John Heywood Hawkins; Christopher Henry Thomas Hawkins, 10 Portland Place, London; his executors' sale Christie's 11 May 1896 (27), bt McLean (£20); by 1948 Thomas Walter Bacon (1863-1950); F.T. Bacon; Sotheby's 14 June 2001 (8 - unsold); with Ben Elwes Fine Art, London; bt Richard L. Feigen, New York, 2005; Sotheby's New York, 18 October 2021 (46)
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Upper horizontal member of frame, right, white chalk: 721
    Labels
    Verso:
    [1] Upper horizontal member of frame, left, printed label: Ben Elwes Fine Art, 45 Maddox Street, London W1S 2PE
    Subject
    The setting is a temple supposedly once the sanctuary of the god Clitumnus, near Spoleto in Umbria, which was converted into a Christian church in the 4th century AD. It stands besides the source of a spring from which rises the river also known as Clitumnus.
    Related Prints
    E8 Giuseppe Vasi after Wilson, Veduta del Tempio, e Fiume del Clitunno nello Stato presente, The British Museum
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Works by Other Artists
    [1] J.M.W. Turner, Wilson Sketchbook, 1796-97, p. pp. 78-79, Tate, London
    Critical commentary
    The classical associations of the site made the temple a popular destination for Grand Tourists, and Wilson must have visited there on his journey from Venice to Rome with William Lock of Norbury and Thomas Jenkins in late 1751. No outdoor drawings of the site by Wilson survive but an etching by Giuseppe Vasi (E8) reproducing a finished drawing by him, was published in Rome in 1753 and must represent his earliest known treatment of the subject.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Bacon Collection 115
    Bibliography
    Perhaps Brettingham Account Book, p. 42; Christie's sale catalogue, 28 June 1814 (82); WGC, pp. 82, 109, 197, pl. 75b; J.J. Emerick, The Tempietto del Clitumno near Spoleto, 1998, vol. 2, p. 121, n. 22; Feigen 2010, unpaginated; D. Marignoli, 'Richard Wilson e il Tempietto Clitunno', Spoletium, vol. 48, no. 4, 2011, pp. 106-113
    More Information
    The site was later celebrated by Byron in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812), Canto IV, Stanzas lxvi-lxviii.
    Condition/Conservation
    Dimensions framed: 71.1 x 97.2 cm (28 x 38 1/4 in.)
    Updated by Compiler
    2021-11-25 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • E8 Giuseppe Vasi after Wilson, Veduta del Tempio, e Fiume del Clitunno nello Stato presente, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Temple of Clitumnus, with the Cows drinking from the Spring of Clitumnus, near Spoleto, Umbria, The Marignoli di Montecorona Foundation, Spoleto
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Temple of Clitumnus, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
    • Ascribed to Wilson, Landscape with Temple of Clitumnus near Spoleto, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Temple of Clitumnus, The Marignoli di Montecorona Foundation, Spoleto

    Exhibitions

    • Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
    • London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
    • New York, Richard L. Feigen & Co., 29 April - 25 June 2010
    • Leeds, UK, 1868

    Biographies

    • James Paine (bap. 1717?, d. 1789)
    • Mr Grey
    • John Hawkins (c.1758-1841)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Richard Feigen and Ann Guité, Richard Wilson and the British Arcadia
    • John Kenworthy-Browne, 'Matthew Brettingham's Rome Account Book 1747-1754'
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