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    River Mouth with Peasants dancing

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    River Mouth with Peasants dancing
    River Mouth with Peasants dancing
    River Mouth with Peasants dancing
    Victoria & Albert Museum, London
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    River Mouth with Peasants dancing
    Date
    c.1770-80 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 85.7 x 121.3 cm
    Imperial: 33 3/4 x 47 3/4 in.
    Collection
    Victoria & Albert Museum, London. To license image, click here
    Accession Number
    42-1880
    Wilson Online Reference
    P177A
    Description
    An atmospheric Italianate scene with extensive sea and mountains in the distance, framing trees and in the middle ground the mouth of a river with a ruined circular temple standing on its left bank next to a ruined bridge. In the foreground is a group of five gaily clad peasants, a man and a woman dancing at the left and nearer the centre a standing woman playing a lute, a seated man playing a flute and in front of them a reclining man seen from behind. To their left are four sheep, and to the right is a half-open antique tomb.
    Provenance
    Thomas Kelsall, Hampstead; given to Claud Russell, Binfield Manor, Berkshire; December 1819, bequeathed to his wife, Leonora Russell; 1829, Revd Alexander Benn Russell, her youngest son; sold by him through John Singer of Frome to Captain H.B. Festing; 1880, purchased by Victoria & Albert Museum
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Related Drawings
    D214 Roman Campagna with Peasants Dancing, The Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, New York
    Related Prints
    E72/26 Thomas Hastings, On the Arno The British Museum (1854,0708.83) and other impressions
    E74 Reynolds after Wilson, various impressions of Evening, mezzotint (Gems of Art, 1 May 1824, pl. XII).
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Bibliography
    WGC, p. 216, pl. 105a; Summary Catalogue of British Paintings, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1973
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/121
    Condition/Conservation
    In 1953 W.G. Constable reported the work as rubbed and apparently repainted in places. Kate Lowry has noted:
    Linen canvas is coarse plain weave. Glue relined. All original turnovers removed at time of lining. Pale grey or off-white ground. Style of figures appears too modern for Wilson and the sky is not painted down to the horizon as is usual for Wilson, instead the landscape is painted up to meet the sky. Varnish rather discoloured. Last cleaned in 1893.

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Roman Campagna with Peasants Dancing, The Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, New York

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, On the Arno, The British Museum
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Evening, The British Museum
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Evening, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Evening, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Samuel William Reynolds after Wilson, Evening, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Pastoral Scene with Musicians by a classical Ruin, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) River Mouth with Peasants dancing (Mediterranean Coastal Landscape at Dusk), Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Neue Pinakothek, Munich
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) River Mouth with Peasants dancing ('Evening'), Private Collection
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Evening: River Scene with Castle (River and Castle: Evening), Victoria & Albert Museum, London

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
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