Richard Wilson, R.A. 1714-1782

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Description

Richard Wilson, R.A.
Rome from the Villa Madama; and St Peter's and the Vatican from the Janiculum
a pair, both oil on canvas, in carved wood frames

Provenance

Robert Tilson Deane, 1st Baron Muskerry (1745-1818), Springfield, County Limerick

Literature

W.G.Constable, 'Richard Wilson, Some Pentimenti', Burlington Magazine, 1954, Vol.XCVI, p.147, nos.3 and 4 (as unrecorded versions by Wilson)

Catalogue Note

These two splendid panoramas portray probably the two most famous prospects of Rome. The view from the Villa Madama is taken from the point at which pilgrims, travelling along the Via Trionfale, first caught sight of the city. The building on the right is the loggia of the Villa Madama which Raphael designed for Pope Clement VII. In the distance lies part of the city with the River Tiber and the distant Alban Hills.

The second view, which shows St Peter's, was popular from the days of the early Romans. It is taken from the heights of the Janiculum in Trastevere looking north over the Vatican and into the Campagna. In the distance on the horizon is Mount Socrate. In both paintings Wilson characteristically includes some antique fragments in the foreground as a reminder of Rome's glorious past.

These two paintings are versions of the pictures which Wilson painted in 1753 for William, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth.