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    The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini

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    The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini
    The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini
    The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini
    Private Collection, Yorkshire / Photograph by Jerry Hardman-Jones
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini
    Date
    c.1758-59 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 47 x 72.4 cm
    Imperial: 18 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.
    Collection
    Private Collection, Yorkshire
    Wilson Online Reference
    P82
    Description
    The Ponte d'Augusto crosses the River Marecchia at Rimini and in the distance is the hill of the republic of San Marino. The bridge, with two buildings at one end to the left, spans the centre of the composition, the river extending from it to fill most of the left foreground. Above its banks at the left, in shadow, some buildings can be seen. In the right foreground, beyond a bank of low rocks, is a shelving beach in sunlight, on which a woman and a kneeling man handle some washing. To the left another kneeling figure washes linen in the river and two further figures are seen below the right hand arch of the bridge. A dense clump of trees stands on the right.
    Exhibited
    SA 1761 (135 - a version); York, Yorkshire Loan Exhibition August 1934 (39, lent St Quintin); York, Masterpieces from Yorkshire Houses, 1951 (52 - Italian Landscape with a Bridge, lent Malone); Leicester 1953 (78); London, Royal Academy, Italian Art and Britain, 1960 (169)
    Provenance
    Probably purchased by Sir William St Quintin, Bart (c.1699-1770); by descent to Mrs M. L'Estrange Malone; thence by descent
    Signature/inscription
    Ornate signature scratched into the brown paint lower right: RW [monogram]
    Techniques and materials
    Saturated colours with sumptuous blues in the sky, painted over a pink ground. There are pentiments of upright trees visible through the light band immediately behind the bridge at the right.
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] On upper horizontal member of frame in black ink in an old hand: 63
    Subject
    The Ponte d'Augusto, built by the Emperor Augustus, leads out of Rimini near the triumphal arch, also dedicated to him, across the River Marecchia, to the ancient Via Emilia linking Rimini and Bologna. (See Related Drawings, D43). Commenced in 13 AD, a year before the emperor's death, it was completed later by his successor, Tiberius. With five arches, it was constructed of white Istrian limestone.
    Related Drawings
    D41 The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini,Tate, London
    D41A The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Private Collection, England
    D43 The Arch of Augustus at Rimini, Private Collection, England
    D46 The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
    Related Prints
    E38 Joseph Farington after Wilson,Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, 1776, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven (B1977.14.21011(g)) and other impressions
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P70 Torre delle Grotte near Naples, Private Collection, Yorkshire (Pendant)
    Critical commentary
    Based on drawings made on the spot during Wilson's journey from Venice to Rome, late 1751-52. The details of the architecture hint at Canaletto. The scene is populated with well observed and well painted figures.
    Bibliography
    Perhaps Brettingham Account Book, p. 42; E.K. Waterhouse, 'Exhibitions of Old Masters at Newcastle, York and Perth', Burlington Magazine, vol. 93, August 1951, p. 262; WGC, pp. 45, 71, 82, 211-12, pl. 99a
    Link to WG Constable Archive Record
    WGC/1/1/111
    More Information
    One of a pair acquired by Sir William St Quintin, 4th Baronet, recorded in an account book of 1759 as 'A Picture Wilson 13 gns'
    Condition/Conservation
    In original gilt frame. Kate Lowry has noted: Oil on canvas, glue relined, and on a five-member stretcher probably dating from the relining treatment. Pink coloured ground with bright reddish brown under-paint in lower right foreground.The signature was drawn through the overlying brown paint with a brush handle to reveal the darker paint layer beneath. Figures are neatly painted. Foliage also quite precise; no obvious reserve left for the foliage against sky. Slight pentiment visible of poplar tree painted out in distant landscape above and beyond the right hand side of the bridge. Sky appears to be painted with Prussian rather than ultramarine blue.
    Updated by Compiler
    2020-07-24 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Tate, London
    • The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Private Collection, England
    • The Arch of Augustus at Rimini, Private Collection, England
    • The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

    Prints

    • Joseph Farington (1747-1821) after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Joseph Farington after Wilson, Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, The British Museum
    • Joseph Farington after Wilson, Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, The British Museum
    • Joseph Farington after Wilson, Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Royal Academy of Arts, London

    Versions

    • Ascribed to Wilson, The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Bridge of Augustus at Rimini (Roman Bridge at Rimini), Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand

    Paintings

    • Torre delle Grotte near Naples, Private Collection, Yorkshire (Pendant)

    Exhibitions

    • Leicester Museums and Art Gallery, June - July 1953

    Biographies

    • Sir William St Quintin, 4th Bart (c.1699-1770)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • John Kenworthy-Browne, 'Matthew Brettingham's Rome Account Book 1747-1754'
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