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    Return to "Boydell" is linked to these Works 42 items
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    Torre delle Grotte near Naples

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    Torre delle Grotte near Naples
    Torre delle Grotte near Naples
    Torre delle Grotte near Naples
    The Trustees of the British Museum
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    Artist
    William Hodges after Wilson
    Title
    Torre delle Grotte near Naples
    Date
    Published 29 January 1776
    Medium
    Etching
    Dimensions
    Metric: 172 x 247 mm (trimmed)
    Imperial: 6 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (trimmed)
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    1863,0725.626
    Wilson Online Reference
    E35A
    Description
    View of three caves cut into a cliff-face, with a square tower on the summit and a stone arch projecting into the sea on the left. This side of the bay, men in a small barge can be seen in the left foreground and there are other sailing craft in the distance.
    Exhibited
    Tercentenary 2014 (118)
    Provenance
    John Kalergi (d. 1863); his sale, Sotheby's 24-25 July 1863; bt through Edward Daniell, 53 Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square, London, 1863
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image:
    [1] Upper left: 'R. Wilson del.'
    [2] Upper right: 'W. Hodges Sc.'
    [3] Centre: TORRE DELLE GROTTE near NAPLES.
    Subject
    It has recently been shown by Simon and Postle that the scene is of Torregaveta, a craggy outcrop on the Phlegraean peninsula to the east of Naples. Close to Baiae, Cumae and the volcanic lakes of Fusaro and Avernus, it had many classical associations. At the summit of the cliffs was the ruin of a villa fortress constructed by the Roman consul, Servilius Vatia (c.122-44 BC). The tower of the villa was still prominent in the 18th century but was damaged in the Second World War, by which time the rock face and the arches had also been much eroded.
    Related Drawings
    D207 Torre delle Grotte, near Naples Tate, London
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P70 Torre delle Grotte near Naples, Private Collection, Yorkshire
    P70A Torre delle Grotte near Naples, John Mitchell Fine Art Paintings
    Critical commentary
    Twelve Original Views in Italy was published by John Boydell as a compilation of etchings by different printmakers, produced over a number of years, after Wilson's drawings or paintings. The present print was based on a related drawing, probably D207 (Tate, London). It is the only print in the series made by Wilson's former pupil, William Hodges and is likely to have been completed before July 1772, when Hodges left England with Captain Cook's second voyage to the Pacific (less probably in late 1775 after his return). It differs from the paintings of the subject in the relative size and proportions of the openings in the rocks, the arrangements of the more distant boats and in the sky.
    Bibliography
    Edwards 1808, pp. 88, 251; Ford 1951, p. 57; WGC, p. 199 under pl. 78a, b; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 295
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/87

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Torre delle Grotte, near Naples, Tate, London

    Versions

    • William Hodgesafter Wilson, Torre delle Grotte near Naples (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • William Hodgesafter Wilson, Torre delle Grotte near Naples, The British Museum
    • William Hodgesafter Wilson, Torre delle Grotte near Naples, Royal Academy of Arts, London

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Torre delle Grotte near Naples, Private Collection, Yorkshire
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Torre delle Grotte near Naples, John Mitchell Fine Art Paintings

    Exhibitions

    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014

    Biographies

    • John Boydell (1720-1804)
    • William Hodges (1744-1797)

    Documents

    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Edward Edwards, Anecdotes of Painters who have resided or been born in England; with critical Remarks on their Productions
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