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A View of Rome with St Peter's
A View of Rome with St Peter's

A View of Rome with St Peter's

Artist (Penegoes, Powys, Wales, 1714 - 1782)
Mediumchalk on paper
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall: Height: 28.2 cm, Width: 42.2 cm
Frame: Height: 46.7 cm, Width: 59.5 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1950 with income from the Webster Bequest.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG003507
About MeThe son of a welsh clergyman, Richard Wilson trained in London with the portraitist Thomas Wright. From 1750 to 1757 he was in Italy. This drawing was commissioned by Lord Dartmouth, who spent two years in Italy from 1752 and 1754. From the original sixty-eight Dartmouth drawings, just twenty-five were rediscovered in 1948 by Lady Dartmouth at Patshull House. Nineteen of them represent Rome and its environs. These drawings are mentioned by Thomas Jenkins in his correspondence with Lord Dartmouth in 1754. Jenkins was acting as Lord Dartmouth's agent in Rome and probably brought Wilson to his notice.

This drawing depicts a view of Rome seen from the west. It is one of a few
that does not depict ruins of classical age and focuses instead on a relatively recent Italian monument. Wilson made one other drawing and two oil paintings of the same subject depicting St. Peters and the Vatican from the Janiculum (Earl of Dartmouth and National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.).
All three pictures are characterised by a broad, descriptive approach. Here the dark trees in the right foreground and the pastoral figures that flank an expansive view of the city, show a more traditional and idealised landscape representationmuch inspired by the art of Claude Lorraine.

More About Me
One of some 68 drawings commissioned by Lord Dartmouth most of which are now lost