Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 12(v) and 13(r)

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Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 12(v) and 13(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 12(v) and 13(r)
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 12(v) and 13(r)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Italian Sketchbook - Drawings pp. 12(v) and 13(r)
Date
1754
Medium
Graphite with black and white chalk on medium, rough, blued white wove paper
Dimensions
Metric: 281 x 210 mm (each sheet)
Imperial: 11 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. (each sheet)
Accession Number
B1977.14.359 v12 & r13
Wilson Online Reference
D280/12
Description
12(v) is blank apart from an inscription
13(r) depicts a damaged statue of a dog-faced baboon on a damaged plinth with a Greek inscription. The animal is seated frontally at a slight angle to the right with front paws resting on knees.
Provenance
Oldfield Bowles; given to Sir George Beaumont, 1784; thence by descent until 1963, when sold to Paul Mellon
Signature/inscription
12(v) is marked illegibly in the upper left corner
13(r): inscribed by Wilson in black chalk upper right: In the Capital [sic]
Plinth of sculpture inscribed in Greek letters: PHIDIAS [/] AMM [/] PHIDIOU [/] EPOIOI [sic]
Subject
The statue was discovered in medieval times close to the Temple of Isis and Serapis, which stood near the Piazza Minerva. It was in the Museo Capitolino until 1838.
Critical commentary
The inscription on the plinth is an abbreviation of the original inscription on the plinth itself, recording in Greek that 'Phidias and Ammonius sons of Phidias made it.'
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
Object ID: 6363
Bibliography
Sutton & Clements 1968, vol. 1, p. 12, vol. 2, pp. 33-34
More Information
The ancient Greek sculptor, painter and architect, Phidias (c. 480-430 BC), made the statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and designed the statues of the goddess Athena on the Athenian Acropolis.
Only two sketchbooks by Wilson have survived - the present one (D280-D280/33) and D53-D53/81 Studies and Designs by R. Wilson done in Rome in the Year MDCCLII, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (E.3586-1922).