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    Kew Gardens, Surrey, Ruined Arch

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    Kew Gardens, Surrey, Ruined Arch
    Kew Gardens, Surrey, Ruined Arch
    Kew Gardens, Surrey, Ruined Arch
    Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Kew Gardens, Surrey, Ruined Arch
    Date
    Undated
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 48.2 x 73.5 cm
    Imperial: 19 x 28 15/16 in.
    Collection
    Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery. To license images click here.
    Accession Number
    00309
    Wilson Online Reference
    P108A
    Description
    A road, curving between banks covered with trees and bushes, leads through a ruined archway in the Roman style. Beyond to the left are cypresses and a cedar. An artist can be seen drawing lower left, and through the arch a female nude statue is visible.
    Exhibited
    Bath, Victoria Art Gallery, Masterpieces from West Country Art Galleries, 20 May-1 July 1989; Gloucester 2014 (unnumbered); Croome 2019
    Provenance
    Col. M.H. Grant; Stanley Marling, Amberley, Gloucester, 1932; bequeathed to Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery 1963
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Techniques and materials
    Coarsely painted, with overpaint in the sky top left and 'islands' of plants lower right
    Subject
    Kew Gardens lie on the opposite side of the Thames from Syon House. Kew Park was enlarged and embellished by Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales from 1759, when the arch was built 'to make a passage for carriages and cattle, over one of the principal walks of the garden' [and] 'to imitate antiquity'. (W. Chambers, 'A Description of the Palace and Gardens at Kew, the seat of the Princess Dowager of Wales', Royal Magazine, September 1763, p. 154).
    Related Drawings
    D357/1 The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens (recto), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    D357/2 Sketch of an Urn (verso), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    D357A A Ruin, Arch at Kew Gardens, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
    Related Prints
    E72/17 Thomas Hastings after Wilson,Villa Borghese, The British Museum (1854,0708.74) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Critical commentary
    Differs from P108 (Private Collection, England) mainly in foliage detail.
    Bibliography
    Sir W. Chambers, 'A Description of the Palace and Gardens at Kew', The Royal Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Companion, September 1763, p. 154; WGC, 1953, p. 179, under pl. 41a
    Condition/Conservation
    Conserved recently by the Area Museum Service. Rococo style frame with unsuitable gold paint. Kate Lowry has noted: Appears to have been recently cleaned. The sun-modelled building and cloud highlights in sky, together with the two little figures on the elevated walkway and one in left foreground are good Wilson features. Dark areas in the foreground, seen in normal light, appear to be much retouched and there are blanched striated retouches in the upper left sky. Under UV light retouches are visible overlying varnish in the sky and along cracks in the foreground. A rather worn and restored version of this composition.
    Updated by Compiler
    2021-02-19 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens (recto), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • Sketch of an Urn (verso), Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • A Ruin, Arch at Kew Gardens, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Villa Borghese, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Ruined Arch in Kew Gardens, Private Collection, England

    Exhibitions

    • Gloucester City Museum & Art Gallery, 2 January - 1 March 2014
    • Croome Court, Worcestershire, 15 February - 31 December 2019

    Biographies

    • Sir William Chambers (1722-1796)
    • Stanley Marling (1864-1963)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
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