Richard Wilson
, Welsh, 1713-1782
Title
The Palace of Mycenas, Tivoli, and Distant View of RomeDate1752
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
50 x 66 cm
Signedon verso: R. Wilson pinxt. 1752 No. 1
Credit LineMilltown Gift, 1902
Object numberNGI.746
ProvenancePainted for Joseph Henry of Straphan, County Kildare, 1752; Milltown Gift, 1902Exhibition HistoryLoan Exhibition, University College of North Wales, Bangor, 4 April - 23 May 1925
Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964
Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction, Tate Gallery, London, 3 November 1982 - 2 January 1983; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 29 January - 20 March 1983; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 20 April - 19 June 1983
In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Plein-Air Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 26 May 1966 - 2 September 1966; Brooklyn Museum of Art, 11 October 1996 - 12 January 1997; St. Louis Art Museum, 21 February 1997 - 18 May 1997
Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Art, Yale Center for British Art, 6 March 2014 - 1 June 2014; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 5 July - 29 October 2014
Label TextWilson painted this work with great freedom, following the developing fashion for oil sketches by artists visiting Italy. Although, the carefully balanced composition reflects eighteenth century studio practice. The Cascatelli Grande waterfall is on the opposite side of Tivoli from the Temple of Sibyl, shown in the pendant landscape painted for Joseph Henry of Straffan, Co. Kildare. The ruins of the Villa of Maecenas are shown beyond; Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (68 BC 8 BC) was a poet, literary patron and political advisor to Emperor Augustus.