View of the Colosseum

1751–56

Not on view

Wilson traveled to Italy in 1750 to seek portrait commissions from British aristocrats on the Grand Tour but soon turned exclusively to landscape. This delicate sketch shows part of the Roman Colosseum, an ancient amphitheater built in 72-80CE, with the ruins of the Baths of Titus in the background. The tentative nature of the lines and the pentimenti, for example in the arcades of the Colosseum, suggest that this view was taken on the spot.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: View of the Colosseum
Artist: Richard Wilson (British, Penegoes, Wales 1712/13–1782 Denbighshire, Wales)
Date: 1751–56
Medium: Black chalk heightened with white chalk on gray paper; sheet laid down on pink paper mount with double border in brown ink
Dimensions: Sheet: 10 3/16 × 7 11/16 in. (25.9 × 19.5 cm)
Mount: 11 3/4 in. × 9 3/8 in. (29.9 × 23.8 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1964
Object Number: 64.45
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Richard Wilson

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Studies and Designs, by Richard Wilson, Done at Rome, in the Year 1752

Multiple artists/makers

1811

House of Pompey at Albano, Richard Wilson British, Welsh, Black chalk touched with white chalk on gray paper — House of Pompey at Albano
Richard Wilson
1753–56

View of St. Peter's and the Vatican from the Janiculum, Richard Wilson British, Welsh, Black chalk with stumping, heightened with white chalk on blue paper; laid down on original paper mount with purple border — View of St. Peter's and the Vatican from the Janiculum
Richard Wilson
1754

Lake Nemi and Genzano from the Terrace of the Capuchin Monastery, Richard Wilson British, Welsh, Oil on canvas — Lake Nemi and Genzano from the Terrace of the Capuchin Monastery
Richard Wilson
ca. 1756–57

Welsh Landscape with a Ruined Castle by a Lake, Richard Wilson British, Welsh, Oil on wood — Welsh Landscape with a Ruined Castle by a Lake
Richard Wilson

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