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    River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin

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    River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin
    River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin
    River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin
    Tate, London 2014
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    Artist
    Studio of Wilson
    Title
    River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin
    Date
    c.1770-75 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas [not panel as stated by W.G. Constable]
    Dimensions
    Metric: 64.5 x 77.5 cm
    Imperial: 25 3/8 x 30 1/2 in.
    Collection
    Tate, London. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    N01290
    Wilson Online Reference
    P116B
    Description
    Before a calm wide river dominated by a domed ancient ruin three bathers are embarking on or returning from a swim. Beyond in the left distance are a hill-town and mountains. The golden rosy back-lighting effects in the sky behind the hills and trees to the right are tinged overall with pink overtones. On the right banks of the river cattle and sheep are seen.
    Provenance
    Edmund Higginson (1802-1871), Saltmarshe Castle, Bromyard, Herefordshire; his sale, Christie's 5 June 1846 (128 - An Italian Landscape), bt by London dealer Henry Farrer (1798-1866) for £210; noted in Beckett List (see Bibliography below) as bt from H. Farrer for cash in January 1848; bequeathed to the National Gallery by John Staniforth Beckett, 1889; transferred to the Tate 1955; on loan to Downing Street until late 1986
    Techniques and materials
    The foliage at the right is painted very approximately. The architecture of the temple is ham-fisted and the sky above it is glutinous. The highlighting of the boulder etc. to the right is uncharacteristic.
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Works by Other Artists
    J.M.W. Turner, watercolour (T.B. XXXIII-I, Tate, London)
    Critical commentary
    One of numerous idealised landscapes by Wilson, based on the scenery he had observed in Italy in the 1750s. The domed ruin in the centre is derived from a building just outside Rome, known in the 18th century as the Temple of Minerva Medica. The nude bathers in the foreground, with their overtones of classical sculpture, likewise suggest Antiquity. This painting differs from the Huntington version (P116) mainly in the absence of shrubs in the foreground left, in the grouping of the animals, in showing more of the interior of the ruin and in omitting the square building on the hill, mid-distance right, and the boats on the river. It also differs from all other versions in that the foreground bather, perhaps intended as a woman, is looking towards the right rather than the left.
    Bibliography
    No. 281 in typed list of the Beckett collection (National Gallery Library); WGC, p. 213, pl. 99b (version 1)
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/112
    Condition/Conservation
    Surface cleaned and varnished at the National Gallery, 1889. Conserved by Holder and discoloured varnish was removed, August 1948. Treated in 1982 (completed June). Simple weave linen with grey ground.
    Kate Lowry has noted: Original canvas turnovers lost at time of lining. Possibly ultramarine present in the sky; rather mechanical orange blobs of paint in foliage. Strips of cloud in the sky are quite delicate and unlike Wilson's usual style, although sky is painted thickly down to horizon and around the tree branches at right. Foreground figures not convincing for Wilson either. Foliage and foreground highlights not convincing. Rather slick bright tones throughout especially in sky and figures. Poor quality willow tree on opposite bank.
    Updated by Compiler
    2022-02-03 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Versions

    • Ascribed to Wilson, Classical Landscape with Boys Bathing, Leeds Museums and Galleries
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin (Landscape with Bathers), Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Leicestershire, UK
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) River Scene with Bathers, Cattle and Ruin, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
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