Sculpted Plinth in the Villa Medici (Ancient Altar in the Villa…

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Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

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Artist

Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)

Title

Sculpted Plinth in the Villa Medici (Ancient Altar in the Villa Medici)

Date

c.1753-54 (undated)

Medium

Black chalk, brown wash, stump and white gouache on medium, moderately-textured, blue-grey laid paper

Dimensions

Metric: 191 x 244 mm
Imperial: 7 1/2 x 9 5/8 in.

Collection

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here

Accession Number

B1977.14.5745

Wilson Online Reference

D233

Exhibited

Tercentenary 2014 (25)

Provenance

Iolo Williams; Paul Mellon

Signature/inscription

Inscribed by the artist in black chalk, lower centre: 'in the Villa Medici'

Critical commentary

While in Rome Wilson lived close to the Villa Medici on the Pincian Hill so the inscription is likely to be accurate. This altar remains unidentified and is not to be found among the sculpture from the Villa Medici now in Florentine collections. Wilson often included antiquities of this kind in the foreground of his Roman landscapes.

Previous Cat/Ref Nos

Object ID: 15046

Bibliography

Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 222

Sculpted Plinth in the Villa Medici (Ancient Altar in the Villa…

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