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    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli

    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    Tate, London 2014
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli
    Date
    c.1765 (undated)
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 36.1 x 25.4 cm
    Imperial: 14 1/4 x 10 in.
    Collection
    Tate, London. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    N00303
    Wilson Online Reference
    P137
    Description
    The scene features one of the vast arcaded galleries of what was thought at the time to be the ruined Villa of Maecenas. To the right a monk directs a well-dressed lady carrying papers towards a small archway. On the left a river winds its way behind a poplar or cypress tree. The shadows fall sharply from the upper left.
    Exhibited
    SA 1764 (135 or 136 - a version); BI 1841 (100 - lent Vernon); London, International Exhibition 1862 (61); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (108); London 1993 (77)
    Provenance
    Robert Vernon, probably bt in 1835, certainly by 1841; presented to the National Gallery 1847; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1955
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Techniques and materials
    Fine linen canvas with regular weave. Thickish, even ground covering entire surface. The left hand figure is unconvincing. There is possibly some overpainting of the poplar tree to the left and the stone column at the left is hard to read.
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] White chalk: 303 [Tate Gallery catalogue number]
    [2] Black ink on crossbar: 303 R. Wilson 'Hadrian's Villa'
    Subject
    The villa was believed to have been the residence of Maecenas, ambassador of the Emperor Augustus and most renowned of all Roman patrons of the arts. He was also seen as the personification of decadent luxury. The ruins of his villa, therefore, embodied both a high point of classical civilisation and the cause of its collapse. An underlying theme is sic transit gloria mundi - the destruction of past glories through time and neglect. The subject thus held a moral lesson for the viewer.
    Related Drawings
    D130 Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    Related Prints
    E43 M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    E43A M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    E43B M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    E43C M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    E43D M.A. Rooker after Wilson,Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    E43E M.A. Rooker after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    E88 Thomas Abiel Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    Pendant P138 Hadrian's Villa, Tate, London
    Critical commentary
    The composition is apparently based on D130, a drawing made by Wilson in Italy, which, however, lacks the landscape to the left, the broken Antique column and statue, and the prominent figures at the right. The unpretentious composition is explicable on account of the small size. An underlying theme is sic transit gloria mundi - the destruction of past glories through time and neglect. The subject thus held a moral lesson for the viewer. As noted by Solkin, the inherent sentiment may be compared with the conservative views of Oliver Goldsmith in his poemThe Traveller (1764):
    'As in those domes, where Caesars once sway,
    Defac'd by time, and tottering in decay,
    Amidst the ruin, heedless of the dead,
    The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed,
    And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile,
    Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile'.
    (O. Goldsmith, Poems, Belfast, 1775, p.21)
    The subject evidently proved a 'good breeder' as numerous versions were made
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    303
    Bibliography
    Hastings 1825, p.19; Davies 1946, p. 176, cat. 303 - Part of 'Maecenas' Villa' at Tivoli; WGC, pp. 200, 205, pl. 87a; Solkin 1982, pp. 218-19; Hamlyn 1993, p.66; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 256 (cat. 70 but not exhibited)
    Condition/Conservation
    Dimensions framed: 49.5 x 39.5 cm. Simple weave linen with pale grey oil ground. Relined. Surface cleaned and varnished 1887; flaking paint secured 1930; restored 1978; surface cleaned 1993. According to Kate Lowry: under UV there are some old retouches to damage at the top of the ruin. The figures and foreground column are not very convincing.

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum

    Prints

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Twelve Etchings of Views in Italy - Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801), after Wilson, Villa of Mæcenas at Tivoli, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • T.A. Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Part of Mecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum

    Versions

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
    • Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    • Studio of Wilson, Villa of Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, England

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The West Belvedere at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (View in the Ruins of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli), Tate, London (Pendant)

    Exhibitions

    • London, Tate Gallery, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, and New Haven, Conn., Yale Center for British Art, 3 November 1982 - 19 June 1983
    • London, Tate Gallery, 16 March - 31 October 1993
    • London, British Institution, June 1841
    • London, South Kensington, 1 May - 15 November 1862

    Biographies

    • Robert Vernon (1774-1849)

    Documents

    • William George Constable, Richard Wilson
    • David Solkin, Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction
    • Robin Hamlyn, Robert Vernon's Gift: British Art for the Nation 1847
    • Martin Postle & Robin Simon, Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting
    • Thomas Hastings, Etchings from the Works of Ric. Wilson, with some Memoirs of his Life &c.
    • Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: The British School
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