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    Return to "Chambers Hall" is linked to these Works 22 items
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    The Column of Phocas and the Campo Vaccino

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    The Column of Phocas and the Campo Vaccino
    The Column of Phocas and the Campo Vaccino
    The Column of Phocas and the Campo Vaccino
    Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Column of Phocas and the Campo Vaccino
    Date
    c.1752-54 (undated)
    Medium
    Black and white chalk on grey paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: 259 x 404 mm
    Imperial: 10 3/16 x 15 7/8 in.
    Collection
    Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    WA1855.140
    Wilson Online Reference
    D175
    Provenance
    Chambers Hall Gift, 1855
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; Inscribed in black ink, upper right corner: No 10
    Collectors' marks
    [1] Lower left corner: Chambers Hall (Lugt 551)
    [2] Lower left corner: Oxford University Galleries (Lugt 2003)
    Subject
    The Column of Phocas is a Roman monumental column in the Roman Forum, the area commonly known in the 18th century as Campo Vaccino, or field of cows. Dedicated or rededicated in honour of the Eastern Roman Emperor Phocas in AD 608, the column was the last addition made to the Forum and currently stands 13.6 m (44 ft) tall on a cubical white marble socle and brick foundation. On stylistic grounds, it seems to have been made in the 2nd century AD for an unknown structure, and later recycled for the present monument. The socle was not uncovered until 1813, hence its absence from Wilson's drawing. The square foundation of brick was also concealed since the present level of the Forum was not excavated down to its Augustan paving until the 19th century. The column's free-standing position among the ruins has always made it a landmark in the Forum, much favoured by artists.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    1890
    Bibliography
    WGC, p. 160; Brown 1982, p. 661, no. 1890
    Updated by Compiler
    2016-04-01 00:00:00

    Biographies

    • Chambers Hall (1786-1855)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Blayney Brown, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, Volume IV: The Earlier British Drawings, British Artists and Foreigners working in Britain born before c.1775
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