Note 616 — Chapter VI · LANDSCAPE PAINTING

There are several landscapes by Wilson in the public galleries of London. Two large canvases in the National Gallery, “The Villa of Maecenas” and “Niobe,” were painted for Sir George Beaumont and by him presented to the nation in 1726. They are heavy and dark pictures and do not so satisfactorily represent Wilson’s genius as do some of the eight smaller landscapes in the same gallery, notably the charming little picture “On the River Wye.” In the South Kensington Gallery there are six landscapes by Wilson with several others “by or after” him. The most effective of these is a “Landscape Composition” in the Italian style. At Dulwich is a fine Italian picture, “The Cascatella and Villa of Maecenas near Tivoli.” A more nearly adequate idea of Wilson’s work may be found in the Manchester Art Gallery where, besides a fine example of his Italian pictures, a large canvas entitled “Cicero’s Villa,” are one of Wilson’s most triumphant Welsh pictures, the “Welsh Valley with Snowdon Hill,” and a magnificent English scene, a “Landscape with Ruins.” The Art Gallery at Glasgow has one of the loveliest and most mysteriously suggestive of Wilson’s pictures, called “The Convent Twilight;” and a delicate little Scotch landscape (exhibited 1762) entitled “View of Holt Bridge on the River Dee.” It is apparent that most of Wilson’s pictures are in private galleries. In 1814 there was an exhibition of his works but they have not been brought together in any great number since. Some of his sketches had been published at Oxford in 1811 under the title “Studies and Designs by Richard Wilson, done at Rome in the Year 1752.” In 1825 appeared a book of forty etchings made by Mr. Thomas Hastings after the pictures in the Ford collection, a notable collection that came into the possession of Lady Ford through her brother and her husband both of whom had been admirers of Wilson’s work. In 1863 there appeared “Thirty-seven Sketches and Designs in Crayon” by Richard Wilson, R.A. (London, William Tigg). Probably the best place to study Wilson’s pictures as a whole is the Print Room of the British Museum where there are forty-five engravings from his work, several of these engravings being exceptionally fine reproductions. Wilson has been fortunate in the fact that his landscapes have appealed to the best engravers and etchers. Besides the “Six Views in Wales” already spoken of there were “Twelve Original Views in Italy” published by Boydell in 1776, and very many single pictures have been reproduced. The prices brought by Wilson’s pictures have been in modern times fairly large. In 1875 his “View on the Arno” brought 1,800 guineas. “An Evening Scene in Wales” brought 380 guineas. Some of the engravings also bring high prices, especially those of Woollett.