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    300 years
    Return to "Dartmouth" is linked to these Works 21 items
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    The Via Nomentana

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    The Via Nomentana
    The Via Nomentana
    The Via Nomentana
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Via Nomentana
    Date
    Dated 1754
    Medium
    Black and white chalk with stumping on medium, moderately-textured, blue laid paper mounted on medium, moderately-textured, cream wove paper with a border of medium, moderately-textured wove paper with purple wash
    Dimensions
    Metric: 276 x 422 mm
    Imperial: 10 7/8 x 16 5/8 in.
    Collection
    Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here
    Accession Number
    B1977.14.4656
    Wilson Online Reference
    D316
    Description
    The Via Nomentana runs north-east, from Rome to Mentana, formerly known as Nomentum. Behind are the Alban Hills and the Monti Prenestini. The view is taken from about two miles outside the Porta Pia, at the bridge across the Fossa della Cecchina. In the middle distance is the Ponte Nomentano.
    Exhibited
    Birmingham 1948-49 (87); London 1949 (86); Richmond, 1963 (57); New Haven, English Landscape, 1977 (17); New Haven 1981 (84); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (48); Tercentenary 2014 (66)
    Provenance
    Commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801) in Rome in 1753; by descent until lost; rediscovered by Lady Dartmouth, Patshull House, Wolverhampton 1948; 8th Earl of Dartmouth; Christie's 29 January 1954 (20); bt Thomas Agnew & Sons, London; bt by Paul Mellon, February 1961
    Signature/inscription
    See 'Mount Inscriptions'
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Inscribed: 36
    [2] Graphite, upper left: 7402
    Mount inscriptions
    [1] Signed in black chalk on coloured border, lower left corner: R. Wilson f. Romae. 1754
    [2] Inscribed on cartellino in brown ink, lower centre: The Via | Nomentana.
    [3] Inscribed on the coloured border in black chalk, lower right corner: No. 18
    Subject
    The Via Nomentana was the setting for several ancient monuments drawn by Wilson and was a popular place for walking and picnicking in the 18th century
    Related Drawings
    D318 Ponte Nomentano, Tate London
    Related Works by Other Artists
    Francis Towne, View from the Martinelli Vineyard, two Miles from the Porta Pia, Rome, watercolour, 1780, The British Museum (Nn.2.10)
    Critical commentary
    One of a major series of drawings commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801) in 1754, of which 25 are known to survive. The Dartmouth set is the most important group of the artist's finished compositions on paper. Originally numbering 68, the drawings were highly prized by the earl and much admired by connoisseurs of the day including William Lock of Norbury, and the artists John Hoppner and Joseph Farington. Hoppner said of them, 'they were such as the Greeks would have made & put all others at a distance' and Farington was almost certainly referring to them when he characterised Wilson's drawings as having 'all the qualities of his pictures except the colour.' Drawings from the set are distinguished by a white mount with lilac wash border, on which the artist attached a small white label, bearing the title of the work. The bridge visible in the middle distance crosses the River Aniene and was the subject for D318 Ponte Nomentano a separate drawing also made for Lord Dartmouth.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    Object ID: 14280
    Bibliography
    Farington Diary, vol. 7, p. 2775 (1 June 1806); Farington Biographical Note p. 12; Ford 1948, p. 345, no. 18; Ford 1951, p. 61, no. 63; Taylor 1963, cat. 57; New Haven, English Landscape, 1977, pp. 12-13, pl. I; Solkin 1982, p.171; Clark & Bowron 1985, p. 267 under cat. 195; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 254
    More Information
    This is one of 20 views of the environs of Rome referred to by Thomas Jenkins a letter dated 1 June 1754. Of these only no. 1 is missing from the serial numbers recorded in the lower right corner of each. All the Dartmouth drawings have numbers in graphite on the back, ranging (with gaps) from 23 to 61, thus supporting the total of 68 given by Farington. The mounts of all the surviving Dartmouth drawings, with their lilac wash borders, were made by Wilson or under his direction, perhaps by Jenkins.

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Ponte Nomentano, 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
    • Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
    • London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, 29 July - 20 September 1981
    • Richmond Va., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1963
    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014
    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, 19 April - 17 July 1977

    Biographies

    • William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801)
    • Paul Mellon (1907-1999)

    Documents

    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Brinsley Ford, The Drawings of Richard Wilson
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Anthony M. Clark and Edgar Peters Bowron, Pompeo Batoni: A Complete Catalogue of his Works with an Introductory Text
    • Brinsley Ford, 'The Dartmouth Collection of Drawings by Richard Wilson'
    • Christopher White, English Landscape 1630-1850: Drawings, Prints & Books from the Paul Mellon Collection
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