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    The Villa of Maecenas near Tivoli

    The Villa of Maecenas near Tivoli
    The Villa of Maecenas near Tivoli
    The Villa of Maecenas near Tivoli
    The Trustees of the British Museum
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    Artist
    Thomas Hastings after Wilson
    Title
    The Villa of Maecenas near Tivoli
    Date
    Published February 1821
    Medium
    Etching on chine collé
    Dimensions
    Metric: 183 x 233 mm
    Imperial: 7 1/4 x 9 3/16 in.
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    1854,0708.64
    Wilson Online Reference
    E72/7
    Description
    The view is up the gorge of the River Aniene, showing the lower cascades in the middle distance and above them, the ruins of the so-called Villa of Maecenas or Temple of Hercules. On the right the small building on the hillside is the Tempio della Tosse (Temple of Coughing) - perhaps a tomb. Two women are fetching water from a brook in the foreground at the left with stone fragments from classical buildings nearby. A road leads off to a bridge at the right.
    Provenance
    Bought from George Willis, Piazza, Covent Garden, 1854
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image with the title, 'The Original is in the Possession of Lady Ford', production details and publication line: 'Painted by R. Wilson | 1771' ' Etched by T. Hastings | 1821' | 'pubd. in London Feby 1821'
    Subject
    The 'Villa of Maecenas' occupied a particularly lofty position in the esteem of British Grand Tourists since it brought to mind the most famous of all Roman cultural patrons. Maecenas had been one of the greatest Roman benefactors of the arts but was also perceived as the personification of decadent luxury. What were believed to be the ruins of his villa thus embodied both a high point of classical civilisation and the cause of its collapse. Hence this classical landscape held a moral lesson for the contemporary viewer. As noted by Solkin, however, the foreground and middleground of the composition seem to be entirely invented, while the villa itself and the temple are shown on a much lower slope than they occupy in reality.
    Related Drawings
    D260 Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli, Tate, London
    Related Prints
    E77 J. Le Keux after Wilson, Maecenas' Villa at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    E79/2 Robert Brandard after Wilson, Maecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum
    Related Paintings
    P71C Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Private Collection, England plus other versions
    Related Works by Other Artists
    Claude-Joseph Vernet The Falls of Tivoli (1753, WGC pl. 151b)
    Critical commentary
    From a series of forty etchings after paintings by Richard Wilson and additional title page, bound in a volume in red tooled leather with gold decorative border, lettered on the spine with 'Wilson's | Etchings | by | Hastings'; the title page lettered in black and red: 'Etchings, | from the Works | of | [ facsimile of signature below portrait] Ric. Wilson | with Some Memoirs of his Life, &c. | by Thomas Hastings, Esq. | Collector of His Majesty's Customs. | "Non Ductus Officio Sed Amore Operis." Quintillian. | Published by Hurst, Robinson & Co. Cheapside, London. | Johnson, Typ. Apollo Press, 1825. Brook Street, Holborn'; containing twenty pages of Introductory and Concluding Remarks by the etcher, including descriptions of Richard Wilson's original paintings.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    PPA324276
    Bibliography
    Hastings 1825; WGC, p. 226 under pl. 117b; Yule 2015, pp. 60 & 69
    More Information
    George Willis was an antiquarian book dealer, who occasionally published books and prints. His firm was active from 1832-1856 and sold many prints to the British Museum. In 1856 it merged with Thomas Sotheran to become Willis & Sotheran.
    Updated by Compiler
    08/12/2017

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli, Tate, London

    Prints

    • J. Le Keux after Wilson, Maecenas' Villa at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Robert Brandard after Wilson, Maecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Tate, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool

    Biographies

    • Captain Thomas Hastings (1778-1854)
    • Marianne Booth, Lady Ford (1767-1849)

    Documents

    • Thomas Hastings, Etchings from the Works of Ric. Wilson, with some Memoirs of his Life &c.
    This print is part of the "Etchings from the Works of Richard Wilson British Museum" sketchbook
    View sketchbook pages
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