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    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli

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    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    The Trustees of the British Museum
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    Date
    c.1752-53 (undated)
    Medium
    Black chalk on prepared dull lilac paper, touched with white
    Dimensions
    Metric: 230 x 203 mm
    Imperial: 9 1/16 x 8 in.
    Collection
    The British Museum. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    1881,0212.12
    Wilson Online Reference
    D130
    Description
    A small figure is standing in the right foreground at the ruins of the so-called Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli, with others visible in the distance.
    Exhibited
    London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (32); ercentenary 2014 (35)
    Provenance
    Donated by John Deffett Francis, 1881
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Subject
    The massive ruins of the Sanctuary of Hercules the Victor, part of which is shown here, were believed in the 18th century to be those of the villa built by Maecenas, a fabulously rich patron of the arts in ancient Rome and a friend of the Emperor Augustus. They became a constant attraction for international artists (for example Fragonard and Piranesi) in the later part of the century because of their sheer scale and grandeur. However, as emphasised by Jonathan Yarker, Wilson's plein-air sketch predates them all and he was also the first to pair his painting of the Villa Maecenas with that of the Villa Adriana, subsequently published as a pair of prints by John Boydell.
    Related Prints
    E43 M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    E43A M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    E43B M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    E43C M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    E43D M.A. Rooker after Wilson,Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    E43E M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    Related Paintings
    P137 Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
    P137A Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    P137B Wilson, Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
    P137C Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    P137D Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
    P137E Studio of Wilson, Villa of Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
    Pendants:
    P138 Villa Adriana
    P138A Villa Adriana
    P138B Villa Adriana
    Related Works by Other Artists
    Jean-Honoré Fragonard, red chalk, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon
    Giovanni-Battista Piranesi, etching, 1764 for Part II of Vedute di Roma
    Abraham-Louis Ducros, watercolour, c.1786, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
    Critical commentary
    Wilson was the first in a succession of artists to depict the ruins of the so-called Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli. This is clearly a rapidly-made memento, presumably executed on the spot. The timelessly decaying picturesqueness is enhanced by the bushes and drooping plants which grow over the vast arches. He based a pair of painted views (P137 & P138) on this drawing and on D170 respectively.
    Bibliography
    Binyon 24; WGC, p. 205, pl. 87b; Solkin 1982, p. 162; Wilson and Europe 2014, pp. 228-29
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/96
    More Information
    Wilson based a pair of painted views of the ruins of the villas of Maecenas and of Hadrian (P137 Tate, London N00303 and P138 Tate, London N00302) on this drawing and on D170 Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea (GV DF 2071) respectively. P137 was engraved by Michael Angelo Rooker and published in 1776.

    Work of Art

    Prints

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • T.A. Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Part of Mecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
    • Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
    • Studio of Wilson, Villa Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983
    • New Haven, Yale Center for British Art & Cardiff, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, 6 March - 29 October 2014

    Biographies

    • John Deffett Francis (1815-1901)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • 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
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
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