Fontana dello Scoglio (A Rocaille Fountain)

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Birmingham Museums Trust

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Artist

Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)

Title

Fontana dello Scoglio (A Rocaille Fountain)

Date

1754-55 (undated)

Medium

Black chalk, stump, grey wash and white bodycolour on grey wove paper with ruled margins

Dimensions

Metric: 391 x 516 mm
Imperial: 15 3/8 x 20 5/16 in.

Collection

Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. To license images click here.

Accession Number

1954 P4

Wilson Online Reference

D319

Exhibited

Birmingham 1948-49 (93); London 1949 (92); Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art & New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1962, English Drawings and Water Colours from British Collections (98); Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts 1966 Peintures et Aquarelles anglaises 1700-1900 (136); Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, 1968, Early English Drawings and Watercolours; London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (50); Nordic Watercolor Museum, Tjörn, Sweden, 2007 (18); Tercentenary 2014 (17)

Provenance

Commissioned by William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, then by descent; Christie's 29 January 1954 (23 A Rocaille Fountain), bt National Art Collections Fund and presented to Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

Signature/inscription

Unsigned; no inscription

Techniques and materials

Pentimenti are visible parallel to the roofline and walls of the building to the left

Verso inscriptions

[1] Inscribed in an unidentified hand: 61

Subject

The Fontana dello Scoglio (Fountain of the Rock) is situated in the Giardino del Belvedere, part of the private papal gardens of the Vatican Palace in Rome. It was built in 1611-12 for Pope Paul V (Borghese), probably by the architect and engraver, Martino Ferrabosco. The eagle, an emblem of the Borghese family, stands at the apex of the rockwork and has led to alternative names for the fountain, such as the Aquilone (great eagle) or the Fontana dell'Aquila (fountain of the eagle). The winged dragon is also a Borghese device. The place was difficult to access and the subject of the drawing was long unidentified or thought to be imaginary. Wilson probably gained access to it through his social contacts in Rome, notably Cardinal Albani.

Critical commentary

This highly worked composition is a presentation drawing from the Dartmouth series. It must have been developed in the studio from a preliminary study made on the spot but none is known to survive. A group of 25 drawings, surviving from the Dartmouth series of 68, were found in a drawer at Patshull in 1948 by Lady Dartmouth. The number 60 recorded on the reverse of this drawing implies that it was made late in the series. David Solkin has remarked that, considering the importance of gardening in 18th century England, the presence of several gardening scenes within the Dartmouth series is not surprising.

Previous Cat/Ref Nos

4,54

Bibliography

Farington Diary, vol. 7, p. 2775 (1 June 1806); Farington Biographical Note p. 12; Illustrated London News, 13 November 1948, p. 548, repr.; Ford 1948, p. 345, A Rocaille Fountain (61);; Ford 1951, p.59, no. 50; Solkin 1982, p.172; Clark & Bowron 1985, p. 267 under cat. 195; Wilson and Europe 2014, p.217

Condition/Conservation

Laid down on cream paper and framed in grey; the whole is laid down on a modern mount with the verso invisible.

Fontana dello Scoglio (A Rocaille Fountain)

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