The River Dee near Eaton Hall (A View on the River Dee with Anglers)

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The River Dee near Eaton Hall (A View on the River Dee with Anglers)
The River Dee near Eaton Hall (A View on the River Dee with Anglers)
The River Dee near Eaton Hall (A View on the River Dee with Anglers)
The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
title=Credit line
Artist
Imitator of Wilson
Title
The River Dee near Eaton Hall (A View on the River Dee with Anglers)
Date
Undated
Medium
Oil on canvas [not on panel as suggested in online record]
Dimensions
Metric: 46.7 x 62.7 cm
Imperial: 18 3/8 x 24 5/8 in.
Accession Number
PE00294
Wilson Online Reference
NWP86E
Description
The view is from east of Eaton Hall, near Eccleston, Cheshire, perhaps at the Crook of Dee, near the Aldford Road. The river extends from the left foreground to the centre middle distance and is bordered on both sides by trees and bushes. At a bend in the middle distance, there is a cottage and in a field to the left, cows are grazing. A tree in the right foreground extends its branches nearly halfway across the picture and below it three figures are fishing. Distant hills are seen on the left and the sky is yellow-pink with the sunset. The direction seems to be downstream, towards the north-west, Chester and the hills of Wales. The mood is one of evening.
Exhibited
Grosvenor Gallery London, 1889 (19 - River Scene / A View on the Tiber Sunset, lent Sir John Neeld)
Provenance
R. Mortimer, Esq.; Sir John Neeld, 1st Bart (1805-1891) Grittleton House, near Chippenham, Wiltshire; Sir Algernon Neeld, 2nd Bart (1846-1900); Lt-Col. Sir Audley Dallas Neeld, 3rd Bart (1849-1941); Lionel W. Neeld; Christie's 9 June 1944 (34 - A View on the Tiber: Sunset), bt Koetser, 13 Duke Street, St James's, London, S.W.1; Sotheby Parke Bernet, London 30 April 1980 (217); bt by the National Library of Wales, 1980
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; no inscription
Techniques and materials
The cows to the left are painted impressionistically and the figures are uncharacteristic for Wilson.
Verso inscriptions
[1] Upper horizontal stretcher bar, left end, inverted, black ink: PE 294
[2] Upper left vertical turnover of lining canvas, pencil: 15 11 86
Mount inscriptions
[1] Frame upper left, white chalk: 217
Labels
[1] Lower horizontal stretcher bar, left, old typed label: A View on the Tiber Sunset | by Richard Wilson. | Provenance: R. Mortimer, Esq. | Provenance: Sir Audley Nield. | Exhibited: Grosvenor Gallery 1889. - No. 19.
[2] Lower horizontal stretcher bar, right, inverted round label: 3361
[3] Lower horizontal stretcher bar, right: illegible torn oval label
[4] Frame verso lower left corner: old museum label giving title as 'View on the Tiber, Sunset'
[5] Frame verso lower left: old museum label for 'The Artist's Journey through North Wales' exhibition (undated)
Subject
Writers from Elizabethan times, including Spenser and Milton, referred to an ancient tradition ascribing divine qualities to the Dee, prophetic for the fortunes of England and Wales, lying either side of it. Eaton Hall was the ancestral seat of Sir Richard, later 1st Earl Grosvenor and is currently that of his descendant, the 7th Duke of Westminster.
Related Drawings
D354 The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton Hall Cheshire, Art Institute of Chicago, Leonora Hall Gurley Collection
Related Prints
E25 Thomas Morris after Wilson, The Banks of the River Dee near Eaton, Cheshire, The British Museum & other impressions
E71/1 John Young after Wilson, View on the River Dee, near Eaton Hall, The British Museum
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Paintings
P111 The Valley of the Dee with Chester in the Distance, The National Gallery, London
Critical commentary
Of the numerous versions the composition of the present one is closest to that of P86B (The Courtauld Gallery, London), though it is much smaller and greatly inferior in execution.
Bibliography
WGC, p. 174, pl. 34a, type II (version 2)
Condition/Conservation
Viewed out of the frame. Kate Lowry has noted: Relined with wax-resin adhesive onto cotton duck, loose-lined with a brown muslin. Stretched onto liner's stretcher. Original turnovers removed at time of lining. Ground not visible but a dark, almost black layer appears to underlie all of the paint surface. This is possibly previous paint or even perhaps a photographic layer. The crude pink underpainting of foliage against the sky at centre right and the unusual detail in the face of the main figure suggest strongly that this is a copy after Wilson.
Updated by Compiler
2022-01-18 00:00:00