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Study of Figures for 'Ego fui in Arcadia'
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Study of Figures for 'Ego fui in Arcadia'
Study of Figures for 'Ego fui in Arcadia'
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
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Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Study of Figures for 'Ego fui in Arcadia'
Date
c.1755 (undated)
Medium
Black chalk with white gouache on medium, rough-textured, blue-grey laid paper mounted on thick, moderately-textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions
Metric: 194 x 271 mm
Imperial: 7 5/8 x 10 11/16 in.
Details
Links
Collection
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven. To license images click here
Accession Number
B1977.14.6060
Wilson Online Reference
D385
Description
Two men in antique costume, the nearer carrying a long staff, stand in contemplation before a large inscribed stone fragment at the lower right
Exhibited
Birmingham 1948-9 (119 -
Study for Cicero's Villa
); London 1949 (118)
Provenance
Archibald G.B. Russell (1879-1955); Pickles sale, Sotheby's 11 July 1928 (72), bt Maser (£1); Witt collectrion; Thomas Lowinsky; Mrs Thomas Lowinsky; acquired 1977
Signature/inscription
Inscribed in black chalk on stone fragment, lower right: 'EGO FVI IN | ARCADIA'
Collectors' marks
1) Recto, upper left. 'TEL' in circle: Thomas Lowinsky (Lugt 2420a)
2) Recto, lower left. crown above flower [?]
3) Verso 'RM' in hexagonal shape
Subject
The theme deals with mortality and the transience of human existence. It occurs in a number of seventeenth-century paintings, notably one by Guercino and two by Nicolas Poussin.
Related Drawings
D53/39
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752
, p. 39
Related Paintings
P69
Ego fui in Arcadia
, Private Collection, England
Related Works by Other Artists
[1] Guercino,
Et in Arcadia Ego
c.1618-22, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome;
[2] Nicolas Poussin,
Et in Arcadia Ego
, 1627, Chatsworth House;
[3] Nicolas Poussin,
Et in Arcadia Ego
, 1637-38, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Critical commentary
This is a study for the Arcadian shepherds in P69
Ego fui in Arcadia
. Wilson may have been initially inspired by Guercino's
Et in Arcadia Ego
, which in his day was in the Corsini Gallery, Rome.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID:15146
Bibliography
B. Ford,
Country Life
, 19 November 1948, p. 1054 (repr.); Ford 1951, p. 54, pl. 18; WGC, p. 160 under pl. 17b; Ford 1952, p. 313, fig. 4; Spencer-Longhurst 2012, pp. 71-72, fig.41
More Information
The form of the inscription differs from the more usual 'Et in Arcadia Ego', used by Poussin and other artists
Condition/Conservation
Dimensions of mount: 198 x 276 mm; 7 13/16 x 10 7/8 in.
Updated by Compiler
2017-01-16 00:00:00
Work of Art
Drawings
Studies and Designs done in Rome in the Year 1752
, p. 39
Paintings
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782),
Ego fui in Arcadia (Shepherds in the Campagna)
, Private Collection, England
Exhibitions
Birmingham City Art Gallery, 17 November 1948 - 9 January 1949
London, Tate Gallery, 22 January - 14 March 1949
Biographies
Sir Robert Clermont Witt (1872-1952)
Thomas Lowinsky (1892-1947)
Paul Mellon (1907-1999)
Archibald George Blomefield Russell (1879-1955)
Documents
William George Constable,
Richard Wilson
Brinsley Ford,
The Drawings of Richard Wilson
Paul Spencer-Longhurst, 'All the Quality of his Pictures except the Colour': Richard Wilson's Drawings as Collectors' Items
Brinsley Ford, 'Richard Wilson in Rome: II - The Claudean Landscapes'