Richard Wilson, 1713/4–1782, British, active in Italy (1750–56), Sculpted Plinth in the Villa Medici, undated
- Title:
- Sculpted Plinth in the Villa Medici
- Former Title(s):
- Ancient Altar in the Villa Medici
- Additional Title(s):
- In the Villa Medici
- Date:
- undated
- Materials & Techniques:
- Black chalk and white gouache on medium, moderately textured, blue laid paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 7 1/2 x 9 5/8 inches (19.1 x 24.4 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in black chalk, recto, lower center: "in the Villa Medici"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1977.14.5745
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- architectural subject | Grand Tour | mermaids | mythological figures | plinth | putti
- Associated Places:
- Europe | Italy | Lazio | Pincian Hill | Roma | Rome | Villa Medici
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:15046
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
Throughout his time in Rome Wilson lived close to the Villa Medici, which is situated on the Pincio hill near the summit of the Spanish Steps. He would have been familiar with its contents, particularly the famed collection of antiquities, and several drawings of them exist. For example, Wilson’s Roman sketchbook of 1754 (cat. 143), contains a study of a strigilated sarcophagus then in the garden of the Villa Medici.1 Wilson famously drew the central sculpture of the Niobe group at the Villa Medici in his sketchbook of 1752 (cat. 16), including it in his painting The Destruction of the Children of Niobe (cat. 89). The altar in the present drawing appears to be a typical example of the Flavian period, but is not identifiable among those sculptures from the Villa Medici now in Florentine collections. Wilson frequently inserted small antiquities such as this altar into the foreground of his Roman landscapes. 1 Sutton and Clements, Italian Sketchbook 1:20, 2:39–40. Jonathan Yarker Martin Postle, Richard Wilson and the transformation of European landscape painting, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2014, p. 222, Cat. No. 25, NJ18.W72 R53 2014 OVERSIZE (YCBA)
Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-03-06 - 2014-06-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]
Martin Postle, Richard Wilson and the transformation of European landscape painting, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2014, p. 222, Cat. No. 25, NJ18.W72 R53 2014 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]
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