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    300 years
    "Byrne" is linked to these Works
    of 18

    The Falls of Niagara

    The Falls of Niagara
    The Falls of Niagara
    The Falls of Niagara
    Wolverhampton Arts & Heritage, Wolverhampton Art Gallery Collection.
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Falls of Niagara
    Date
    Early 1770s
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 152.7 x 182.8 cm
    Imperial: 60 x 72 in.
    Collection
    Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton. To license images click here.
    Accession Number
    OP96
    Wilson Online Reference
    P178
    Description
    The painting shows the Niagara river and its great waterfalls that form the American and Canadian border. It was executed at a time when Britain was the dominant power in North America, having gained Canada from France as a result of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and before the American War of Independence (1775-1783). Tiny figures are seen viewing the falls from the edge of the cliffs and to the right, beneath the pine trees, is a viewing platform.
    Exhibited
    RA 1774 (315); Booth Notes Doc. 5, p. 1; Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street, 1832 (149), lent by John Landseer; BI 1855 (120), lent by Landseer family; London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (137)
    Provenance
    Almost certainly commissioned by William Byrne (1743-1805); his pupil, John Landseer; Landseer family by 1855; T.M. Whitehouse; presented to Wolverhampton Art Gallery by T.M. Whitehouse, February 1884
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Subject
    The Niagara River and its great waterfalls form part of the Canadian and American border. The first European to see the falls was Father Louis Hennepin (1626-1704), a Belgian missionary and explorer(1626-1704), whose description published in English in 1698 made them one of the natural wonders of the world.
    Related Prints
    E26 Byrne after Pierie after Wilson, View of the Cataract of Niagara, with the Country adjacent, The British Museum
    E26A Byrne after Wilson, View of the Cataract of Niagara, The British Museum
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Works by Other Artists
    [1] 'Captain Hamilton of the 15th Regiment', The Falls of Niagara, a drawing, RA 1769 (132)
    [2] John Vanderlyn (1775-1852), View of Niagara Falls, aquatint, published London 1804 by James Merigot, with that of its pendant of the western branch by Frederick Christian Lewis, sometimes stated to be the first and prototype oils of the falls
    Critical commentary
    The work is unique in Wilson's oeuvre, lacking any distinct foreground or closing screens at the sides. It is a rare example of unmitigated Sublimity, enhanced by the tiny figures and trees silhouetted on the edge of the cliffs and beyond the water. However, the background to the left and right has a look of English enclosed fields.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    371; 96
    Bibliography
    Booth Notes Doc. 5, p. 3; WGC, pp. 95, 130, 230-1, pl. 126a; Solkin 1982, pp. 242-43
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/141
    More Information
    Wilson never saw the falls in person, but was able to work from a drawing made on the spot in 1768 by Lieutenant William Pierie, a military draughtsman of the Royal Artillery. The painting was almost certainly commissioned by the engraver William Byrne, who was probably intending from the start to make a print after it. W.G. Constable noted that Benjamin Booth incorrectly said 'this Picture was painted from a drawing taken on the Spot by Cole Hamilton'. However, in 1769 'Captain Hamilton, An Honorary Exhibitor' showed The Falls of Niagara; a drawing at the Royal Academy (132), which may thus relate to P178.
    Condition/Conservation
    Described by W.G. Constable (1953) as in poor condition and very much in need of cleaning. The picture was reported, in the early 1970s, to have been used as a divider in the museum coal store. Conserved in the 1970s by Jesse Bruton. The horizon is drawn down in the usual way and a pinkish underlayer is visible in the upper centre of the sky. The pine trees to the right are very unconvincing. Relined but stretcher may be original. There is a repaired horizontal tear in the sky centre left.
    Kate Lowry has noted: Oil on twill canvas, relined onto another canvas with wax resin adhesive by Jesse Bruton in 1972 to repair an extensive old tear at the left and at the same time, surface dirt and varnish were removed. Stretcher follows the eighteenth-century pattern of corner braces and cross member but is probably more recent as timbers are quite wide: 110 mm outer members and 80 mm corner braces. It is recorded that the work was stored in the coal cellar at the gallery for some decades and may have been removed from its stretcher at that time. Pale pink ground shows through in highlights of sky left of centre; this may be intentional or the result of overcleaning. There are extensive drying cracks in the areas where dark paint underlies white or light colours, in the water and in a large area down the right hand edge and in lower left hand sky. These latter areas might indicate the presence of another composition beneath, perhaps with a large tree at the right side of the painting and dark trees along a horizon at the left.

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • William Byrne (1743-1805), after Lieutenant William Pierie after Wilson, View of the Cataract of Niagara, with the Country adjacent, The British Museum
    • William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson, View of the Cataract of Niagara, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)and Studio, The Falls of Niagara, Tate, London

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983

    Biographies

    • William Byrne (1743-1805)
    • John Landseer (1762/3-1852)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 5: List of Wilson's Works with Owners
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