Skip to content
Log inRegister
    HomePaintingsDrawingsPrintsBrowse all worksWilson collectionsWilson collections mapTercentenary exhibitionOther exhibitionsProject highlightsThemes and mediaBiographiesBibliographical Resources
    Advanced search
    Work of ArtBiographiesExhibitionsBibliographical Resources
    Settings
    Pages
    300 years
    Return to "Binyon" is linked to these Works 76 items
    of 76

    The First Entrance to the Cuniculo

    This item is active and ready to use
    The First Entrance to the Cuniculo
    The First Entrance to the Cuniculo
    The First Entrance to the Cuniculo
    The Trustees of the British Museum
    title=Credit line
    Larger imageShareFeedback
    Artist
    Ascribed to Wilson
    Title
    The First Entrance to the Cuniculo
    Date
    c.1752-56 (undated)
    Medium
    Black chalk, touched with white, on grey-buff paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: 263 x 379 mm
    Imperial: 10 3/8 x 14 15/16 in.
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    Oo,5.7
    Wilson Online Reference
    NWD108/1
    Description
    An archway can been seen cut in the rock, with a projecting arch of brick built on, leading to a hollow chamber, mounded up with earth. Before it are two peasants, one sitting and one standing.
    Provenance
    Bequeathed by Richard Payne Knight, 1824
    Signature/inscription
    Inscribed on the right:
    [1] In ink: the first Entrance towards | the Cuniculo near a quarter | of a mile up the mountain | and above a mile distant | from the Lake
    [2] In black chalk: you see [illegible word] these | sketches were done | in [illegible word]
    haste -
    [3] In graphite: Wilson
    Subject
    The tunnel was made by the Romans in AD 52 in order to drain the Lacus Fucius
    Critical commentary
    Pace the setting and the provenance the drawing style argues against Wilson himself as the artist, nor is the inscription in his hand. This is one of several drawings of the Emissario and its environs by the same hand (see also NWD107 Outlet of the Emissario and NWD108 Entrance to the Cuniculo, both in the British Museum and with the same provenance).
    Bibliography
    Binyon 32
    Updated by Compiler
    2016-03-02 00:00:00

    Biographies

    • Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824)

    Documents

    • Laurence Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists and Artists of Foreign Origin working in Great Britain preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum
    © Richard Wilson OnlineCreditsCopyright & DisclaimerPrivacy