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    A View in the Villa Chigi at Ariccia (Sandpit and Ruins in…

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    A View in the Villa Chigi at Ariccia (Sandpit and Ruins in…
    A View in the Villa Chigi at Ariccia (Sandpit and Ruins in…
    A View in the Villa Chigi at Ariccia (Sandpit and Ruins in…
    Faringdon Collection Trust, Buscot Park, National Trust
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    A View in the Villa Chigi at Ariccia (Sandpit and Ruins in Glade) (A Woodland Glade with Ruins)
    Date
    By 5 June 1770 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 70.5 x 97.5 cm
    Imperial: 27 3/4 x 38 3/8 in.
    Collection
    Faringdon Collection Trust. To license images click here.
    Accession Number
    18
    Wilson Online Reference
    P171
    Description
    In the left foreground, there is a ruin with a flight of steps partly hidden by trees, with a clump of trees to the right. In a clearing in the centre are three figures by a ruined archway near a sandpit, with trees on higher ground beyond.
    Exhibited
    Probably BI 1814 (127/130 - A Woody Scene or 144/147 - Landscape); probably BI 1848 (131 or 139 - both View in Wales); Manchester 1857 (Modern Masters, 151 - View in Wales or 162 - Welch Landscape); Arts Council 1946 (13 - Landscape with Grotto)
    Provenance
    Bt from the artist by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet; by descent to Lt-Col. Owen Williams-Wynn, Baronet, Dolben (1953); Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Sotheby's 7 July 1965 (122), bt Lord Faringdon, Buscot Park
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Subject
    Located between the lakes of Nemi and Albano on the Via Appia Nuova, southeast of Rome, Ariccia was celebrated for its groves, thought to have been the hunting-grounds of the ancient Roman goddess Diana. In the 17th century the area had been a haunt of Wilson's exemplar, Gaspard Dughet.
    Related Paintings
    Pendant P170 Sandpit in a Glade, Private Collection, England
    Critical commentary
    Probably one of 'two small views in Wales' mentioned by Benjamin Booth in Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's house in St James's Square, London. W.G. Constable noted E.K. Waterhouse's description of the work as 'an attempt at native variation on a theme popular in Dutch painting - a patch of sunlight in a deep woodland glade. But Wilson carelessly painted it over a landscape - perhaps with Italian ruins which he did not trouble fully to eliminate.'
    Bibliography
    Invoice from Wilson 5 June 1770, National Library of Wales, Box 115; Booth Notes Doc. 4, p. 2; Booth Notes Doc. 5, p. 1; probably Catalogue 1814, p. 19 or 20; Waterhouse 1946, p. 227; WGC, pp. 47, 88, 184, pl. 53b; Constable 1954, p. 140; The Faringdon Collection, Buscot Park, 1975, p. 11, no. 18
    More Information
    A document among the Wynnstay papers in Wilson's hand is headed Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Baronet to Richd. Wilson Dr. June 5th 1770. It contains two entries that seem to refer to this painting and P170: 'To a Landskip taken in the Villa Ghigi at Lariccia £26:6:0' and 'Its Companion £26:6:0'
    Condition/Conservation
    Kate Lowry has noted the following:
    Simple weave original canvas, even texture. Glue-relined possibly in the 1960's when sold (probably between the sales of 1946 and 1965). Original turnovers removed at time of lining. Five member pine stretcher dates from the lining treatment. Ground colour is pale pink and just visible at the edges of the sky paint where the tree foliage begins at the right side of the composition. Mid and foreground darks are underpainted with a warm brown.
    Under UV light widespread minor retouches visible overall in dark tones, and underlying the present varnish coating. In normal light the rather mechanically applied dark dots representing foliage in bushes at centre left also appear to be retouches rather than original paint. A large matt patch of fill and retouch just to left of centre in foreground possibly indicates an old repaired damage to the canvas. Upper left sky is quite a dark grey and this may also be later overpaint. A small area of lifting paint in the centre of the painting above and to the right of the distant birds has two tiny, associated paint losses.

    Updated by Compiler
    2022-03-08 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Sandpit in a Glade (Landscape in the Villa Chigi, Ariccia), Private Collection, England (Pendant)

    Exhibitions

    • London, British Institution, 1814
    • Manchester, Exhibition Hall, 5 May - 17 October 1857
    • Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales and elsewhere, From 13 August 1946

    Biographies

    • Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Bart (1748-1789)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • William George Constable, 'Richard Wilson: Some Pentimenti'
    • 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
    • Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse, 'Old Masters in Wales'
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 4: Biographical Fragments and abandoned List of Works
    • Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 5: List of Wilson's Works with Owners
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