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    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)

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    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff
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    Artist
    Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801) after Wilson
    Title
    Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy)
    Date
    Undated
    Medium
    Etching on buff laid paper float mounted onto modern cream paper
    Dimensions
    Metric: Sheet: 211 x 173 mm
    Imperial: Sheet: 8 5/16 x 6 13/16 in.
    Collection
    National Museum Wales, Cardiff. To license image, click here.
    Accession Number
    NMW A 10917
    Wilson Online Reference
    E43E
    Description
    View into the cavernous interior of an ancient ruin at the right, over the vast arches of which grow bushes and drooping plants. Two figures are seen standing in the right foreground and there are antiquities leaning against the wall at the left, with a landscape beyond.
    Provenance
    Given by John Deffett Francis, 1886
    Signature/inscription
    Lettered below the image:
    [1] Upper left: R. Wilson del.
    [2] Upper right: M. Rooker sc.
    Verso inscriptions
    [1] Upper centre, pencil: S M [?]
    [2] Centre, pencil: No 4 Lot 0 [?]
    [3] Lower left, pencil: Ruins in Italy
    [4] Lower right, pencil: Allow [illegible, deleted] Between opening | of Mount | [diagram]
    [5] Lower left, pencil [symbol = 4?] XI
    [6] Lower right, pencil: 8/2 170 [? partly erased]
    [7] Lower left, pencil: NMWA 10917
    Subject
    The entrance to one of the colossal arcaded galleries of the Sanctuary of Hercules the Victor at Tivoli, then thought to be the Villa of Maecenas.
    Related Drawings
    D130 Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, The British Museum
    Related Prints
    E72/37 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Part of Mecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum
    E88 Thomas Abiel Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    Versions
    See 'Links' tab
    Related Paintings
    P137 Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
    P137A Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery
    P137B Wilson, Study at Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
    P137C Studio of Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (Ruins at the Villa of Maecenas, Tivoli), Magdalen College, Oxford
    P137D Wilson, The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
    P137E Studio of Wilson, Villa Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
    P185 Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Farm with a Pond, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum
    Critical commentary
    This etching derives from Wilson's painting of the same subject now at Tate, London (P137). He paired the latter with P138 The West Belvedere of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (Tate, London and many other versions) and this, too, was etched by Rooker (E42). Twelve Original Views in Italy was published by John Boydell as a compilation of etchings by different printmakers, produced over a number of years, after Wilson's drawings or paintings. As Jonathan Yarker has noted Rooker's prints after Wilson were popular with the next generation of English landscape painters and were copied, for example by Thomas Girtin at the 'academy' of Dr Thomas Monro in the mid-1790s.
    Previous Cat/Ref Nos
    86.170 DF
    Bibliography
    Edwards 1808, p. 88
    More Information
    E43E is one of the few extant impressions of this etching (along with E43, E43C & E43D) to lack Boydell's publication line. This may indicate that, together with other prints in the series Twelve Original Views in Italy, it was first commissioned by Wilson with a view to publication himself, and only later passed or sold to Boydell when Wilson was hard pressed for cash.
    Wilson came to possess Rooker's copper plate of this etching at the end of his career, a time when he could not afford new supports for pictures. He re-used it for the small painting P185 Farm with a Pond, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum.
    Condition/Conservation
    Trimmed close to the image. Cleaner than E43D but lacks title inscription.
    Updated by Compiler
    2025-05-12 00:00:00

    Work of Art

    Drawings

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

    Prints

    • Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Part of Mecenas' Villa at Tivoli, The British Museum
    • T.A. Prior after Wilson, Ruins in Italy, National Museum Wales, Cardiff

    Versions

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), The British Museum
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), Royal Academy of Arts, London
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), National Museum Wales, Cardiff
    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)after Wilson, Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli (from Twelve Original Views in Italy), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven

    Paintings

    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Tate, London
    • 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
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), The Villa of Maecenas at Tivoli, Private Collection, USA
    • Studio of Wilson, Villa Maecenas, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
    • Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782), Farm with a Pond, National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum

    Biographies

    • Michael 'Angelo' Rooker (1746-1801)
    • John Deffett Francis (1815-1901)
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