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    Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo

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    Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo
    Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo
    Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo
    Birmingham Museums Trust
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo
    Date
    1754 or later (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 750 x 100.5 cm
    Imperial: 29 1/2 x 39 9/16 in.
    Collection
    Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. To license images click here.
    Accession Number
    P1920P8
    Wilson Online Reference
    P62B
    Description
    Lake Albano appears in the middle distance with the banks rising steeply from it. In the foreground to right and left are groups of trees, between which sit a Madonna-like woman with a child, and a man drawing or reading. Under the foliage of the inner right-hand tree a church is visible. Disappearing over the edge of a hill, a man on a white pony leads a donkey by its halter. Across the lake a path slants down the face of the cliff, which is surmounted by the town of Castelgandolfo.
    Exhibited
    Birmingham 1934, Art Treasures of the Midlands (293, as Lake Nemi, Castel-Gandolfo)
    Provenance
    Mason & Phillips; bt Agnew's, 18 December 1917 (#5074); 15 March 1920, bt from Agnew's through the John Feeney Bequest Fund
    Signature/inscription
    Signed in monogram on stone lower left: RW [R reversed]
    Inscribed on arched stone lower centre: XV; l [no further inscription]
    Subject
    Lake Albano, 18 miles south-east of Rome, was celebrated in Wilson's day for its appearance in Virgil's Aeneid. Castelgandolfo was and remains the summer residence of the popes. It was built for Urban VIII (1623-44) to the designs of Carlo Maderna. The site of the ancient town, Alba Longa, is nearby and Pompey and Domitian, among other celebrated ancient Romans, built villas on the shore of the lake.
    Related Drawings
    D163 Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo, Victoria & Albert Museum
    D312 Castel Gandolfo: A View of the Town from across the north end of Lake Albano, with a Shepherd in the Foreground, Private Collection
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Works by Other Artists
    [1] Claude Lorrain Pastoral Landscape with Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo, oil on copper, 1639, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
    [2] Jonathan Skelton, Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo, watercolour, 1758, Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester
    [3] Jacob More (1740-1793), Lake Albano with Castelgandolfo, The Fleming Collection, London
    [4] Joseph Wright of Derby Albano, 1790, National Museum Wales, Cardiff (NMW A 109)
    [5] J.-B.-C. Corot, Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo, oil on paper, 1826-28, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
    Critical commentary
    Lake and town are seen from the north-east, replicating the viewpoint in Pastoral Landscape with Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo by Claude Lorrain, which David Solkin has noted was then in the Barberini collection in Rome. Wilson's first treatment of the subject seems to have been a drawing on the far shore (D163), which in 1754 he worked up into a presentation drawing for Lord Dartmouth (D312), whose design his painted versions follow. P62B is harder and more mechanical than other versions. The tree on the left is pattern-like but hard in technique. The central distant landscape has some quality however. The inscription 'XV' may be intended as the distance from Rome. Similar milestones appear in P176, P176A & D407.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    8'20
    Bibliography
    Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Catalogue 1930; Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery Catalogue 1960; WGC, p.191 pl. 64b (version 2)
    Condition/Conservation
    Very discoloured and badly in need of cleaning. Kate Lowry has noted: Simple weave linen canvas, glue relined, original turnover edges missing. Pale grey or white ground. Lining has pressed the canvas weave into the paint, otherwise paint appears to be in good condition. Some areas such as the castle and lower right foreground details are good quality, but the scale of figures in the background is rather small, foreground figures are stiff and the foliage and tree branches consist of repetitive mechanical brush strokes. Covered by heavily discoloured varnish particularly noticeable at upper right. No major damages.
    Updated by Compiler
    2021-07-22 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo, Victoria & Albert Museum
    • Castel Gandolfo; A View of the Town from across the north end of Lake Albano, with a Shepherd in the Foreground, Private Collection

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Lake Albano and Castelgandolfo, Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) View of Castel Gandolfo and Lake Albano, Private Collection, England

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
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