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    300 years
    "Egremont" is linked to these Works
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    The Hermitage, Villa Madama

    The Hermitage, Villa Madama
    The Hermitage, Villa Madama
    The Hermitage, Villa Madama
    Petworth House, National Trust
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Hermitage, Villa Madama
    Date
    Dated 1760
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 59.7 x 81.3 cm
    Imperial: 23 1/2 x 32 in.
    Collection
    Petworth House, National Trust. To license images click here.
    Accession Number
    PET.P.625*
    Wilson Online Reference
    P91
    Description
    In a shady glade, a lane runs across the foreground and on the left a man and a woman greet a friar. A rustic building is at the centre, overhung by trees, while to the right on a gentle slope, a line of trees and a distant figure are silhouetted against the sunset sky, where birds are flying.
    Exhibited
    BI 1814 (167/171 - The Hermitage); BI 1824 (148 - Gardens of the Villa Madama, lent Earl of Egremont)
    Provenance
    A bill of £260 made out by 'Wm. Dormer' to George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont for five paintings and dated 15 November 1802, included a 'Landscape by Wilson' which may be this picture or one of the three other paintings by or attributed to Wilson at Petworth today; by descent to John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-1972); accepted by H.M. Treasury in lieu of death duties 1956; accepted by National Trust on loan from H.M. Treasury 1957; ownership formally transferred from H.M. Treasury to the National Trust, 20 September 1990
    Signature/inscription
    Signed and dated on horizontal log lower right: RW [monogram, R reversed] 1760
    Subject
    The composition was called The Hermitage when exhibited in 1814 but The Villa Madama when exhibited in 1824 and when engraved by William Byrne in 1765. The inscription of Byrne's print added that the place was known as 'il Teatro', since Giovanni Battista Guarini's pastoral tragicomedy, Il Pastor Fido [1590] had been performed there. From this the libretto of Handel's eponymous opera was derived (1712, revived 1734).
    Related Prints
    E14 William Byrne after Wilson A View in the Villa Madama, near Rome, called Il Teatro, 1765, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven (B1984.21.428) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    This composition was clearly one of Wilson's 'good breeders' as at least five authentic versions are known.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Bolton List 1847: 13; Collins Baker 1920: 625; National Trust: 190
    Bibliography
    Catalogue 1814, p. 20; Collins Baker 1920, p. 135; WGC, pp. 71, 87, 202 pl. 82a
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/90
    More Information
    This painting differs from P91A, the Hagley Hall version, in details of trees and foliage, and slightly in the figures.
    Condition/Conservation
    Conserved by Henry Restra Bolton (1792-1871), 1847; cleaned by John Brealey, 1952. Thinness of blue in the sky still persists and there is considerable wear in the centre; large damage in trees to right; areas of small bituminous cracks. The nineteenth-century neo-classical frame is badly distressed and faded.
    Kate Lowry has noted: Glue relined. Old 'Y' shaped damage to paint and canvas filled and badly retouched upper right corner. Detail of black and white birds in sky is good. Blue of sky somewhat worn over white underpaint. Figure group at left foreground is good. Extensive bituminous craquelure in middle ground which is very dark.
    Updated by Compiler
    03/09/2021

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson, A View in the Villa Madama, near Rome, called II Teatro, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson, A view in the Villa Madama, near Rome, called Il Teatro: Pastor Fido & other dramas having been performed there, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
    • William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson, A view in the Villa Madama, near Rome, called Il Teatro: Pastor Fido & other Dramas having been perform'd there, The British Museum
    • William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson, A View in the Villa Madama near Rome called Il Teatro, Royal Academy of Arts
    • William Byrne (1743-1805) after Wilson, View in the Villa Madama, National Museum Wales, Cardiff

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Hermitage, Villa Madama, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Hermitage, Villa Madama, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Hermitage, Villa Madama, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Garden of the Villa Madama, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Wilsonand Studio, The Hermitage, Villa Madama, Private Collection, Wales

    Exhibitions

    • London, British Institution, 1814

    Biographies

    • William Byrne (1743-1805)
    • George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Charles Henry Collins Baker, Catalogue of the Petworth Collection of Pictures in the Possession of Lord Leconfield
    • Anonymous, Catalogue of Pictures by the late William Hogarth, Richard Wilson, Thomas Gainsborough, and J. Zoffani. Exhibited by permission of the proprietors in honour of the memory of those distinguished artists, and for the improvement of British art
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