Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons

Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
John Plimmer (c.1725-61) after Wilson (?)
Title
Landscape with Apollo and the Seasons
Date
1760
Medium
Etching, printed on chine collé
Dimensions
Metric: 143 x 142 mm (trimmed)
Imperial: 5 5/8 x 5 5/8 in. (trimmed)
Accession Number
1852,1009.768
Wilson Online Reference
E9
Description
Rocky landscape, with four female figures holding hands and dancing in a circle in the foreground. A man with a staff is seen seated on the right, pointing and talking to the dancers. There is a forest on the right and a ruin on top of a hill in the left middle distance. Rays of light stream over a mountain and a forest and lake are seen in the background.
Exhibited
Tercentenary 2014 (124)
Provenance
Acquired 1852
Signature/inscription
Scratched below image with production detail: 'J. Plimmer. f. Romae 1760.' ... [size of original picture:] '3 feet 6 inches square'
Verso inscriptions
[1] Annotated in pencil: 'No 3 of Naples'
Related Prints
E24 Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, Royal Academy of Arts, London
E24A Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, National Museum Wales, Cardiff
E24B Richard Earlom and Robert Sayer after Wilson, Apollo and the Nymphs, The British Museum
E47 William Woollett and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy after Wilson and John Hamilton Mortimer, Apollo and the Seasons, The British Museum
E47A William Woollett and Benjamin Thomas Pouncy after Wilson and John Hamilton Mortimer, Apollo and the Seasons, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Related Paintings
P164 Apollo and the Seasons, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
P164A Apollo and the Seasons, Indianapolis Museum of Art
Critical commentary
The annotation verso suggests that the original painting on which the print is based may have been related to Plimmer's period in Naples in 1757. He is known to have painted views of Naples and Rome for Lord Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford, and Mr Southwell but as Postle as observed, Plimmer's few known landscapes indicate that he generally preferred imaginary views that derived from Claudean compositions. In the present case the area to the left recalls the landscape at Tivoli, including the Temple of Vesta, repeatedly painted by Wilson, who later also treated the classical subject of the dance of the Seasons to the music of Apollo. As noted by Constable, the composition may thus derive from a lost painting executed in Rome by Wilson, Plimmer's teacher.
Bibliography
WGC, pp. 140, 167; Solkin 1982, p. 237, n. 1; Ingamells 1997, pp. 431 & 880-81; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 302
Updated by Compiler
2017-04-13 00:00:00