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    Tivoli: The Temple of the Sybil and the Campagna - II

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    Tivoli: The Temple of the Sybil and the Campagna - II
    Tivoli: The Temple of the Sybil and the Campagna - II
    Tivoli: The Temple of the Sybil and the Campagna - II
    Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Morrie A. Moss
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    Artist
    Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
    Title
    Tivoli: The Temple of the Sybil and the Campagna - II
    Date
    Undated
    Medium
    Oil on canvas
    Dimensions
    Metric: 94 x 125.7 cm
    Imperial: 37 x 49 1/2 in.
    Collection
    Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    59.26
    Wilson Online Reference
    P143D
    Description
    The town of Tivoli is seen from the north east across the gorge of the river Aniene (or Anio), with the Roman Campagna and the city of Rome itself in the distance. To the left, on the cliff edge, is a small cluster of ancient buildings. These include the circular Roman Temple of Vesta and the rectangular Temple of the Tiburtine Sibyl.
    Exhibited
    London Anglo-Japanese Exhibition, 1910 (5); RA Old Masters 1912 (126); Memphis, TN, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Paintings from the Collection of Mr and Mrs Morrie A. Moss, June-September 1955 (17); Detroit & Philadelphia 1968 (3); St. Louis, MO, Washington University Gallery of Art, The Beautiful, The Sublime and the Picturesque, February- April 1984 (1); Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Selections from the Permanent Collection of Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, June 1987-July 1989; Memphis, TN, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, In the Campagna, April -June, 1993
    Provenance
    Henry de Vere Vane, 9th Baron Barnard, Raby Castle, Darlington, Durham 1918; Scott and Fowles, New York; Mrs J. Henry Lancashire, New York; Lock Galleries, New York; Mr and Mrs Morrie A. Moss, Memphis, Tennessee; gift of Mr and Mrs Morrie A. Moss, 1959
    Signature/inscription
    Unsigned; no inscription
    Subject
    Tivoli is about 20 kilometres from Rome, on the lower slopes of the Sabine Hills. Its finest ruin, the so-called Temple of Vesta, is a circular building dating from the 1st century BC. Situated dramatically above a precipice and cascade, it has been admired by artists since the 16th century because of its picturesque location and became a famous attraction for Grand Tourists.
    Related Drawings
    D217 Tivoli with the Temples of Vesta and the Sibyl and the Grand Cascade, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    D280/10 Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 10(v) and 11(r): The Temples of Vesta and the Sibyl at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P45 The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
    Critical commentary
    Like the artist seen sketching in this picture, Richard Wilson must have passed many pleasurable hours drawing the dramatic site, with its distinctive temples and extensive view over the Roman Campagna. The area had also figured in the works of Claude Lorrain and Gaspard Dughet, from whose classic landscapes Wilson's composition derives unmistakably - a wedge of land framed by a tree, the hillside view of the town and the vista of the low plain as it extends toward Rome. This painting, a variant of a composition the artist first painted in 1752 (P45), is likely to have been executed after his return to Britain. By introducing ideal landscape to the next generation, he played a major role in establishing the British school of landscape painters. Even John Constable, who professed no need to go to Italy, was influenced by Wilson and spoke of how his work 'still swims in my brain like a delicious dream.'
    Bibliography
    WGC pp. 89, 223, 268, 292, pl 116b; W. P. Hindman, 'Morrie Mosses give five more Paintings', The Memphis Press Scimitar, Memphis, TN, 28 August 1959; The Moss Collection Paintings, Memphis, TN, 1964, p. 38 and cover, repr.; R.B. Beckett ed.: John Constable's Correspondence, vol . 6, Ipswich 1968, p. 117
    More Information
    Until the later C18 the circular temple had been called the |Temple of the Sybil because of the site's ancient connection with the Tiburtine Sybil. It was then demonstrated by Giuseppe Vasi and others to have been a vestal temple and the small adjacent church containing some ancient elements was assumed to have been the Temple of Sybil.
    Condition/Conservation
    Dimensions framed: 118.1 x 148.9 x 8.9 cm (46 1/2 x 58 5/8 x 3 1/2 in.)
    Updated by Compiler
    2019-10-09 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

    • Tivoli with the Temples of Vesta and the Sibyl and the Grand Cascade, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 10(v) and 11(r): The Temples of Vesta and the Sibyl at Tivoli, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven

    Versions

    • Ascribed to Wilson, Tivoli: Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - II, Private Collection, France
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782) Tivoli: The Temple of the Sybil and the Campagna - II, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
    • Richard Wilson and Studio Tivoli: The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna - II, Private Collection, North America

    Paintings

    • The Temple of the Sibyl and the Campagna, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

    Exhibitions

    • Detroit Institute of Arts & Philadelphia Museum of Art, 9 January - 21 April 1968
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