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    300 years
    Return to "Walpole Society 1998" is linked to these Works 67 items
    of 67

    The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa)

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    The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa)
    The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa)
    The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa)
    Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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    Artist
    Ascribed to Wilson
    Title
    The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa)
    Date
    Undated
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 43 x 34.4 cm
    Imperial: 16 15/16 x 13 9/16 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, England
    Accession Number
    BB19
    Wilson Online Reference
    NWP138F
    Description
    A rural scene depicting Hadrian's Villa near Tivoli in Italy. Viewed from the left bank of a river, ruined arches and a small stone building with a pitched roof can be seen in the foreground. A figure stands upon the arches beside the dwelling, leaning over wooden railings from which washing is hanging. Below two figures rest beside a track running down the bank towards the river. The view from riverbank extends across a wooded landscape towards the hills in distance.
    Exhibited
    London, Burlington House, 1882; London, Grosvenor Gallery 1885; Brighton 1920 (2 or 34 - Strada Nomentana); London 1925 (23 - On the Strada Nomentana); Manchester 1925 (21 - On the Strada Nomentana)
    Provenance
    Jeremiah Meyer, R.A.; his sale, Mr Greenwood, Leicester Square, 4 March 1790 (25 - a ditto [= A Landscape with Ruins], £6.16.6.); Benjamin Booth; thence by descent; Captain R. Ford sale, Christie's, 14 June 1929 (24), bt Spink (520 guineas, including a drawing of the subject); Ashurst sale (Burns collection), Christie's 12 June 1931, bt Greg; Sir Brinsley Ford
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Techniques and materials
    The figures are glutinous and the background unarticulated
    Collectors' marks
    [1] Centre of upper horizontal stretcher bar: A red armorial seal
    [2] Centre of lower horizontal stretcher bar: A red seal
    Labels
    [1] Upper right of horizontal stretcher bar. black plastic: 884
    [2] Upper right corner of canvas, brown label with black early 19th century manuscript: 'a cottage built on two ruined Roman red arches above which white linen is being hung to dry: in the middle distance is a church tower, and a range of mountains beyond. | Richd Wilson'
    [3] Lower half of canvas verso, brown label with black early 19th century manuscript, possibly by the same hand as [2]: 'This picture of Richard Wilson taken on the Strada Nomentana [sic] is left by me to Mary Ford for her life and then to F C Ford absolutely | March 23 1857 Richard Ford'
    Related Drawings
    D170 The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
    D170A Hadrian's Villa, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    Related Prints
    E42 Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after Wilson In the Villa Adriana Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven and other impressions
    E80 Celia Lucy Brightwell after Wilson Hadrian's Villa, The British Museum and other impressions
    E83 James Carter after Wilson, Hadrian's Villa The British Museum and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    There are numerous variants of this composition, often paired with Maecenas's Villa
    Critical commentary
    The unsubtle facture makes it less than certain that the painting is by Wilson himself. It is close in composition to the drawing at Swansea but also to the etching by Michael 'Angelo' Rooker of 1776 (see 'Related Drawings' and 'Related Prints').
    Bibliography
    Booth Notes Doc. 8; Booth Notes, Doc. 9 (13); WGC, pp. 47, 200, pl. 80b (version 1); Walpole Society 1998-I, p. 16, BB19
    More Information
    Benjamin Booth noted in his MS List that he also owned Wilson's original drawing
    Updated by Compiler
    2020-08-18 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Part of the Ruins of Hadrian's Villa), Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Hadrian's Villa, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery

    Prints

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801) after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - In the Villa Adriana, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after Wilson, In the Villa Adriana, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after Wilson, In the Villa Adriana, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after Wilson, In the Villa Adriana, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after WIlson, In the Villa Adriana, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker after Wilson, In the Villa Adriana, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Celia Lucy Brightwell (1811-1875) after Wilson, Hadrian's Villa, The British Museum
    • Celia Lucy Brightwell after Wilson, Hadrian's Villa, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
    • James Carter (1798-1855) after Wilson, Hadrian's Villa, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The West Belvedere, Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Private Collection, England
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (View in the Ruins of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli), Tate, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy), Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    • Studio of Wilson, The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (The Ruins of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Hadrian's Villa), Old Westbury Gardens, New York

    Exhibitions

    • Brighton, Fine Art Galleries, 28 February - 2 May 1920

    Biographies

    • Benjamin Booth (1732-1807)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • Brinsley Ford and other authors, The Ford Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 8: List of Wilson's Paintings and Works by Old Masters and other Artists in Booth's Collection
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 9: List of Wilson's Landscapes with Sizes and former Owners
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