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Lake Nemi with two Friars
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Lake Nemi with two Friars
Lake Nemi with two Friars
Private Collection, England / Photograph by John Hammond
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Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Lake Nemi with two Friars
Date
Dated 1768
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 49.5 x 71.8 cm
Imperial: 19 1/2 x 28 1/4 in.
Details
Links
Collection
Private Collection, England
Accession Number
BB26
Wilson Online Reference
P159
Description
The view is from the southern shores of Lake Nemi and includes the town of Genzano on the left with Nemi in the distance on the extreme right. Beyond and to the left of Nemi, is the peak of Monte Cavo.
Exhibited
SA 1768 (190); BI 1814 (170 -
Lake Nemi
); BI 1851 (139); RA 1881-82 (45); London, Grosvenor Gallery,
A Century of British Art from 1737 to 1837
, 1887-88 (180); Guildhall 1908 (47); Brighton 1920 (20 -
Lake of Albano
); London 1925 (52); London 1934 (181 -
Lake Albano
); Exeter 1946 (61 -
Lake Albano
); Birmingham 1948-49 (24); London 1949 (23); Leicester 1953 (80); on loan to Kenwood, 1959-60; London 1968 (20); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (129); Conwy 2009 (23); Weston 2011 (23); Gainsborough's House 2014 (unnumbered)
Provenance
Sir George Beaumont
by 1768 - perhaps bt directly from Wilson;
Benjamin Booth
;
the Revd R.S. Booth
;
Lady Ford
;
Richard Ford
;
Sir Francis Clare Ford
;
John G. Ford
;
Capt. Richard Ford
;
Sir Brinsley Ford
; by descent
Signature/inscription
Signed and dated with monogram lower left: RW [the R reversed] 1768
Related Drawings
D28
Two Friars
, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
D221
Lake Nemi with Two Friars
, Victoria & Albert Museum (DYCE.643)
Related Prints
E72/3 Thomas Hastings after Wilson,
Lake of Albano
, [sic] The British Museum
E72/3A Thomas Hastings after Wilson,
Lake Albano
, [sic] The British Museum
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Works by Other Artists
[1] Francis Towne (1739-1816):
The Lake of Nemi
, watercolour, 1781, The British Museum (Nn,3.4)
[2] Joseph Wright of Derby,
Lake Nemi
, 1790-95, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven.
The view was painted by many British artists after Wilson, including Thomas Jones and William Pars.
Critical commentary
This is one of several versions of this composition. Wilson is looking back to earlier Italian compositions, here enlivened by the variety of buildings on the left and the presence of the friars in the foreground. Wandering friars would have been a common sight in Italy but they are here employed so as to enliven the foreground of the picture and to present a contemplative focus for the underlying order of the landscape. Although Booth referred to the composition as 'Lake Gensano ... Nemi in the distance', Hastings, when he etched it, called it 'Lake Albano' (see Related Prints).
Bibliography
Booth Notes Doc. 9 (35); Commemorative Catalogue 1934 (102, pl. XXXIX); WGC, pp. 73, 91-3, 207, pl. 94b; Solkin 1982, p. 235, no. 129; Egerton 1990, pp. 185-86; Lord 2009, p. 59, no.232; Williams 2011, pp. 34-35, repr.
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
WGC/1/1/104
Updated by Compiler
2018-11-09 00:00:00
Work of Art
Drawings
Two Friars
, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
Lake Nemi with Two Friars
, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Prints
Thomas Hastings after Wilson,
Lake of Albano
, The British Museum
Thomas Hastings after Wilson,
Lake of Albano
, The British Museum
Versions
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Lake Nemi with Two Friars
, Private Collection, UK
Exhibitions
London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983
Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
Brighton, Fine Art Galleries, 28 February - 2 May 1920
London, National Gallery, Millbank (Tate Gallery), 26 June - 30 September 1925
Conwy, Royal Cambrian Academy, 24 October - 23 December 2009
Weston Park, The Granary Art Gallery, 2 April - 3 July 2011
London, Royal Academy, 14 December 1968 - 2 March 1969
Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, 7 March - 5 April 1946
Sudbury, Gainsborough's House, 11 January - 31 May 2014
Leicester Museums and Art Gallery, June - July 1953
Biographies
Benjamin Booth (1732-1807)
Sir Brinsley Ford (1908-1999)
The Revd Richard Salwey Booth (1762-1807)
Elizabeth Booth (1763-1819)
Marianne Booth, Lady Ford (1767-1849)
Sir Richard Ford (1758-1806)
Sir George Beaumont (1753-1827)
Documents
William George Constable,
Richard Wilson
David Solkin,
Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
Peter Lord,
Richard Wilson. Life & Legacy
Judy Egerton,
Wright of Derby
Gareth Williams,
Masterpieces from the Ford Collection
Benjamin Booth, Unpublished Notes, Document 9: List of Wilson's Landscapes with Sizes and former Owners