River and Farmhouse - I (River with Lime Kiln)

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River and Farmhouse - I (River with Lime Kiln)
River and Farmhouse - I (River with Lime Kiln)
River and Farmhouse - I (River with Lime Kiln)
The Earl of Egremont, Petworth House, Sussex / Photograph by Matthew Hollow
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
River and Farmhouse - I (River with Lime Kiln)
Date
After 1757 (undated)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 41.9 x 52.1 cm
Imperial: 16 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.
Accession Number
654
Wilson Online Reference
P35B
Description
Two trees stand in the left foreground with two figures under them. In the centre on the far bank is a low building with a tall chimney; there are two boats in the water to the right. High ground is in the left distance but to the right is flat country with distant hills.
Provenance
At Petworth by 1854
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; no inscription
Techniques and materials
The sky is undifferentiated and thinly painted. The tree seems crude in upper sections and the brown leaves on the left are suspect. The boats are rather unarticulated but the tiny spots of white for the distant sheep seem authentic.
Related Prints
E72/18 Thomas Hastings after Wilson, Italian Scenery, The British Museum (1854,0708.75) and other impressions
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Critical commentary
This and two other versions cited by W.G. Constable, including P35A, differ from P35 in details and in the figures, such as the boy leaning against the tree, the woman wearing a shawl and hood and a dog which is substituted for the third figure. Their clothing and attitudes are thus far removed from those of Zuccarelli and have assumed a more northern character, making it probable that this and the other versions were painted later, perhaps in England.
Bibliography
Waagen 1854, vol. 3, p. 39, Letter XXIII, Petworth: 'A landscape of great transparency, with still water; this picture breathes a peaceful feeling of nature which is most attractive'; Collins Baker 1920, p. 135 - 'River Scene with Lime Kiln; WGC p. 216, pl.103a (version 2)
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
Condition/Conservation
Much bituminous impaction in lower left corner. Kate Lowry has noted: Glue relined. Paint in sky rather worn, leaving pale grey ground exposed, especially at upper left. Foreground rocky shore and distant fields are executed with some impasto and are convincing as Wilson, as are the details of men in boats on river and the way the paint of the sky is pulled down to the horizon.