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    "Waterhouse 1953" is linked to these Works
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    Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)

    Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
    Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
    Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
    Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wilts. / The Bridgeman Art Library
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) and Studio
    Title
    Wilton House from the East (Wilton House East View)
    Date
    c.1758-60 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 98.9 x 144.7 cm
    Imperial: 38 15/16 x 57 in.
    Collection
    Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wiltshire. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    88
    Wilson Online Reference
    P78
    Description
    Wilton House is seen at the end of a canal with an overflow weir in the right foreground, beside which there is a man seated, reading, or more likely drawing. Other figures are walking along the banks in the distance. On the left, lined by trees, is the old approach road, on which are a figure on horseback, a carriage, and other travellers. In the centre of the house façade is the so-called Holbein Tower, whose arch was the main entrance before Wyatt's alterations, begun in 1801.
    Exhibited
    BI 1814 (172/176, 194/198 or 196/200, as View at Wilton/View of Wilton House); Birmingham 1948-49 (50); London 1949 (49)
    Provenance
    Painted for Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke; thence by descent
    Signature/inscription
    Signed on the end of the tree trunk, centre foreground: RW [monogram, the R reversed]
    Related Paintings
    Four other views of Wilton painted for Henry, 10th Earl of Pembroke (see 'Links' tab)
    Critical commentary
    One of a series of five views of Wilton House that Wilson painted for the 10th Earl of Pembroke, whom he first met in Italy. The entire set is not likely to be later than 1760, when Lord Pembroke left Britain for two years of military service on the Continent. The composition of P78 is indecisively organised and the trees ungainly for Wilson himself. The figure and the horse in the left foreground are atypical in angle and facture. The presence of figures on many different scales makes this seem an earlier work than the date of the commission and the painting is likely to include at least some studio input.
    Bibliography
    Catalogue 1814, p. 21; N.R. Wilkinson, Wilton House Pictures, 1907, vol. 2, p. 363, cat. 171 as School of Wilson and perhaps by George Barret; Waterhouse 1953, p. 177; WGC, pp. 87-88 and 189, pl. 60b; S. Pembroke, A Catalogue of the Paintings and Drawings in the Collection at Wilton House, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1968, p. 36, cat. 88; J. Harris, The Artist and the Country House, London 1979, p .276, pl. 298b; F. Russell, A Catalogue of the Pictures and Drawings at Wilton House, 2021, p. 121, cat. 208; J.M. Robinson, Wilton House, 2021, pp. 163-67.
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/71
    More Information
    Francis Russell has noted that this was the first view of the house that the visitor from Salisbury would have experienced.
    Condition/Conservation
    Unglazed. Cleaned in 1932 and in 1967. Conserved by Simon Foulkes and relined 2006 by Richard Watkiss. The frame is unique among the set of Wilton views.
    Kate Lowry has noted: Pale grey ground, but with brown underglaze in foreground and in the reserve left for foliage. Foliage is rather more contrasty and the reserve tone a brighter brown than is usual for Wilson. The building is very neatly painted and the figures at the left of a man leading another on horseback are unusually competent. Probably painted by Wilson's pupils.

    Updated by Compiler
    2021-12-20 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson, Wilton House from the South East, Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wiltshire
    • Richard Wilson and Studio, Wilton House: Temple Copse and Stables, Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wiltshire
    • Richard Wilson and Studio, Wilton House looking East from the Garden showing the Palladian Bridge and Salisbury Cathedral, Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wiltshire
    • Richard Wilson and Studio, Wilton House, South View from Temple Copse, Collection of the Earl of Pembroke, Wilton House, Wiltshire

    Exhibitions

    • Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
    • London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
    • London, British Institution, 1814

    Biographies

    • Sir William Chambers (1722-1796)
    • Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke (1734-1794)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530-1790
    • 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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