Richard Wilson, R.A. North Wales artist 1713-1782 |
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He is said to have painted the original inn sign for the Loggerheads public house (on the main road from Mold to Ruthin), though the present sign is recent and probably at least the second copy. An earlier copy was still on view (under glass) inside the inn until recently (having suffered the ravages of time!). One unconfirmed explanation for its recent disappearance from the inn is that the owner of the inn recently sold out to the Brewery and that ownership of the painting is disputed. This may have been the version that was taken indoors in 1928, though the empty frame remained on the front wall for some years afterwards. The inn itself belonged to the Colomendy Estate until 1926. Wilson is also said to have painted a second sign for the Ship Inn at Llong (map) on the Mold-Chester road, not far from Leeswood Hall, but it was chopped for firewood when the house ceased to be an inn [Stanley, 1987].
Richard Wilson started out as a portrait
painter, the only way to make a living as an artist in England in the mid-18th
century, but the competition from the likes of Reynolds and Gainsborough must
have been formidable. Whereas Gainsborough's success with portraits inhibited
his pursuit of landscape, Wilson's lack of success in the portrait field may
have encouraged his development as a pioneer of landscape in Britain. Wilson's
typical landscape style, though easily overlooked amongst more dramatic pictures
in a gallery, is quite distinctive. A tree with delicate foliage in the
foreground. A stretch of water and a classical building in the middle ground.
Tiny people and animals go about their everyday work or play, dominated by the
landscape around them. And those glowing Wilson skies that are common enough in
real life in North Wales and equally inspiring. The more one sees of Wilson's
paintings, the more one appreciates both the vast range of his output and his
shameless repetition of favourite motifs or whole compositions.
It has been argued that Wilson was influenced by different artists at different
stages of his career though it might be equally accurate to say that he was
willing to turn his hand to what people wanted. If they wanted Salvator Rosa
bandits, or a Vernet seascape, or a Lambert topographical scene, or a Kneller-
(or even Rembrandt-) style portrait or a Claudean scene from Ovid, Wilson could
make a damned good job of it. Some of Wilson's landscapes have been shown to be
virtual copies of works by Dughet (Gaspar Poussin) and Ricci (Solkin, 1982).
Wilson's landscapes derived from the 17thC Roman school dominated by Claude and
Nicolas Poussin. He influenced both Joseph Wright of Derby and Turner. Unlike
his contemporary, Gainsborough, and Constable who followed, Wilson showed less
interest in the 17thC Dutch "everyday life" school of landscape (Rubens,
Ruysdael, etc), but could turn his hand to it more than adequately when
necessary (e.g. "On Hounslow Heath). Perhaps the treatment of landscape as areas
of light and texture on the canvas, going beyond Claude in drawing attention
away from any human activity, was Wilson's subtlest influence on Constable and
Turner, both of whom frequently acknowledged their debt to Wilson. Wilson's use
of human figures in his paintings is not easy to understand. Superficially, they
are there to provide scale and depth to the painting without distracting
attention from the landscape. Even in "history" paintings like "Niobe" where one
would think the dramatic action might prevail, the landscape is allowed to
dominate. However, Wilson's famous quotation "Do not fall into the common
mistake of objecting to Claude's figures" suggests a greater regard for the
importance of figure painting.
Modern critics are often keen to avoid overstating the influence of Claude on
the whole body of Wilson's work, but the most endearing, poetic and immediately
attractive of his paintings are those in which Claude's influence is clearest.
Art experts of the present-day tend to regard his Welsh and English landscapes
most highly. Solkin (1982) draws attention to the fact that Wilson painted for
reactionary landowners and was himself almost certainly politically reactionary.
In this light, the dominance of landscape over human figures takes on a new
significance.
Major paintings by Wilson are on public
display at the following galleries:
WALES
WARNING Note: Times, prices and especially display descriptions may become out-dated - check with gallery before visiting.
Cardiff. (National
Museum of Wales [Tues-Sun 10-5; free]) [up to 17 display + 6 stored]
Swansea. (Glynn
Vivian Gallery [Tues-Sun 10-5; free]) [1 display?]
Aberystwyth. (National
Library of Wales) [1 display? 2+ stored]
Bangor. (Penryhn Castle [April-Oct, Wed-Mon 10-5; £6]) [1 display]
LONDON
London (Tate Britain. [daily 10-5.50: (until 9pm Fridays) free]) [website shows which of 30 paintings are displayed-search "artist"]
London (National Gallery [daily 10-6: free]) [2 display]
London (National
Portrait Gallery [Mon-Sat 10-6; Sun 12-6: free]) [1 display]
London (Victoria
and Albert Museum. [daily 10-5.45; (until 9pm Fridays) free]) [1 display? + 4 stored].
London (The
Foundling Museum. [Tues-Sat 10-5; Sun 11-5: £7.50 ]) [2].
Twickenham, London. (Marble
Hill House.[Re-opens April 1, 2012: Sat 10-2, Sun 10-5: £5.30]) [1].
Dulwich, London. (Dulwich
Picture Gallery. [Tues-Fri 10-5; Sat/Sun 11-5: £5]) [1
display].
Greenwich, London (National
Maritime Museum.[daily 10-5: free]) [1].
THE NORTH-WEST
Liverpool (Walker
Gallery [10-5 daily;FREE]) [3 display]
Port Sunlight (Lady
Lever Art Gallery [Mon-Sat 10-5; Sun 12-5;FREE]) [4 display + 1 stored]
Manchester (Platt
Hall Gallery of Costume [Re-opened 2010: Wed-Sat, 1.30-4.30, free]) [1 display;
photo]
Manchester (City
Art Gallery [Tues-Sun, 10-5; free]) [2 + 1 stored]
Manchester (Heaton
Hall [Thurs-Sun 10-5 Apl-August only; free]) [2 display;
1 photo]
Preston. (Harris
Museum. [Mon-Sat 10-5; free]) [1 stored]
THE NORTH-EAST
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (Laing
Art Gallery [Mon-Sat 10-5; Sun 2-5: Free]) [1 display].
Malton, York (Scampston
Hall [Tues-Fri plus Sun, June-Aug only, tours at 1, 2 or 3pm; £5- house only]) [2
display]
Leeds. (Temple
Newsam House [Tues- Sun 10.30-5: £3.50]) [1] .
Barnard Castle, Co. Durham (The
Bowes Museum [daily 10-5; £8]) [1 display]
THE MIDLANDS
Oxford (Ashmolean
Museum.[Tues-Sun, 10-6; free])[up to 3 display? of 7 total].
Cambridge. (Fitzwilliam
Museum [Tues-Sat 10-5; Sun 2-5; free]) [1 display
+ 3 stored]
Lode, Cambridge. (Anglesey
Abbey [Mar12-Oct22: Mon-Tues 12-3; Wed-Sun 1-5; £10)]). [4]
Birmingham (Barber
Institute [daily 10-5; Sun 11-5; free]) [1 display]
Birmingham (Museum
and Art Gallery [daily 10-5; Sun 12.30-5; free]) [1 display
photo + 2 stored].
Hagley, Birmingham. (Hagley
Hall [1.30-4.30pm, Jan9-Feb9 only, 2012; £10 guided tours]) [1
display]
Wolverhampton (Art
Gallery [Mon-Sat, 10-5; free]) [1 display]
Bakewell (
Chatsworth House [daily 11.00-5.30 £11.50 + £2 parking]) [1 display].
Banbury (
Upton House [Fri-Wed 1.00-5.00 Mar 9th-Oct; £9 ]) [1 display].
Nottingham. (Castle
Museum and Art Gallery [Sat-Thurs 10-5; free, except weekends-£2.00]) [1
display]
Leicester. (City
Art Gallery [daily 10-5; Sun 2-5; free]) [1]
Norwich. (Castle
Museum [daily 10-5; Sun 1-5; £6.20 or £1 for 1h before closing]) [1
in store]
Gloucester. (Gloucester City
Museum and Art Gallery[Tues-Sat 10-5; £3])
THE SOUTH
Bournemouth (Russell-Cotes
Art Gallery) [1 stored]
Petworth. (Petworth
House [Apl-Oct, Sat-Wed (some rooms closed at weekends), 11-5; £11]).
Warminster (Stourhead
[mid-March-Oct, Sat-Wed, 12-5.30; £9-40]) [1 display]
Salisbury. (Wilton
House [May-Aug, Sun-Thurs 11-4.30; £14]) [9 display]
Southampton (City
Art Gallery [Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-4; free]) [1 display?]
Brighton
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery [daily ex Wed, 10-5 (Sun 2-5); free].
[2?Wilson].
THE SOUTH-WEST
Bath (No.
1 Royal Crescent Museum) [1]
Bideford, Devon (Burton
Art Gallery (Tues-Sat 10-4; free)) [1 stored]
Bodmin, Cornwall. (Pencarrow
House [Sun-Thurs, Apl11-May 1.30-4.30; Jun-Oct15 11-4.30]) [2 display].
Bristol (City
Museum and Art Gallery [daily 10-5; free]) [1 display].
Exeter, Devon. (Royal
Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery [Mon-Sat 10-5; free]). [1 stored].
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh (National
and National Portrait Galleries of Scotland; also Paxton House) [0, 1, 1,
all display]
Aberlady, Edinburgh.
Gosford House [open for 45min tours, in summer: see website]. [1 display, 3 private].
Glasgow. (Kelvingrove
Art Gallery) [1 display]
IRELAND
Dublin, Eire (National
Gallery of Ireland) [4 display?].
Belfast, NI.
The Ulster Museum [1].
U.S.A.
New Haven, CT. (Yale
Centre for British Art [Tues-Sat 10-5 (Sun 12-5); free]). [usually display over half the 18 paintings]
Washington, DC (National
Gallery of Art) [1 display, 1 in store]
Boston, MA. (Museum
of Fine Arts) [4 in store].
Philadelphia, PA.(
Museum of Art) [3 in store]
New York, NY (Metropolitan
Museum of Art) [1 stored]
Buffalo, NY. (Albright-Knox
Art Gallery) [1 in store]
Poughkeepsie, NY. (Vassar College Art Gallery) [2 in store].
Cleveland, Ohio. (Art
Museum) [1 stored].
Toledo, Ohio. (Museum
of Art) [1 display].
Houston, Texas (Blaffer
Foundation (closed for renovation, 2012)) [1]
San Marino (near LA), California. (Henry
Huntington Library and Art Gallery) [1 display]
Fort Worth, Texas. (Kimbell
Art Gallery) [1]
Northampton, Mass. (Smith
College Museum) [1 in store]
Indianapolis, IN. (Museum
of Art) [1 display]
Terre Haute, IN. (Sheldon
Swope Art Museum). [1]
Raleigh NC. (North
Carolina Museum of Art) [1 display]
REST OF THE WORLD
Munich, Germany (Neue
Pinakothek [Wed-Mon; 10-5; 5 Euro]) [1 stored]
Ottawa, Canada (National
Gallery) [1]
Montreal, Canada (Museum
of Fine Arts) [2 stored]
Vancouver, Canada (Art
Gallery) [1 stored]
Bermuda (National
Gallery) [1 display]
Tokyo, Japan (National
Museum of Western Art) [1 display]
Adelaide, Australia (Art
Gallery of South Australia) [1 display].
Melbourne, Australia. (National
Gallery of Victoria) [2]
Top locations (according to number currently on display):
Cardiff (Wales)
17 paintings
New Haven (USA) 10 paintings
·
·
These are outstanding in both number and quality.
Salisbury (UK)
9 paintings
Greater London (UK) 14 paintings (but spread across 7 sites)
Liverpool/Port Sunlight 7 paintings
Dublin (Eire) 4 paintings
Oxford (UK) 3 paintings
·
The National Museum of Wales in
Cardiff (Tues-Sun 10-5) displays, in Gallery Four, 14 magnificent
paintings which cover the full range of his output (portraits, British and
Italian landscapes, classical scenes) and also has the important portrait of
Wilson by Mengs. In the adjacent room can be found examples of artists who
influenced Wilson's landscape painting, including Dughet and Cuyp (the painting
by Claude Lorrain was taken down into store in Feb 2003).
The Wilson room itself also displays work by Wilson's pupils, notably Thomas
Jones (8 paintings), and a Wilsonesque "Lake Albano" by Joseph Wright of Derby.
Less directly influenced by Wilson are several Welsh landscapes by J.C. Ibbetson
and others, including many views of Caernarvon Castle to compare with the Wilson
version. One George Lambert and three J.I. Richards landscapes also make
interesting comparisons with the Wilsons. There are also paintings by Zuccarelli
who Wilson admired and met in Venice and two Gainsborough landscapes (one a 2001
acquisition).
The Wilson room puts the artist's work into context by displaying other
paintings and objects associated with Wilson's principal patron in Wales, Sir
Watkin Williams-Wynn, who inherited the vast Wynnstay estates between Wrexham
and Llangollen. These include family portraits by Reynolds and Gainsborough and
a large Batoni portrait of Sir Watkin's Grand Tour. Overall,
an instructive and imaginative display (2001-recently changed). Sadly, there
is no catalogue in print at present.
· The Wilson devotee can also get a cheap lunch in the Pillars self-service restaurant in Cardiff's Queen Street and find two famous etchings of Wilson paintings by Woollett, published Boydell 1763 (Niobe [cat 19a] and Phaeton [cat 22a]) on display just outside the Women's Toilet! The Boydell version of Cardiff's Ceyx and Alcyone can be found in the Reading Room of the National Trust property, Nunnington Hall, in Yorkshire.
·
At
Gregynog, a University of Wales property near Newtown (Powys), two paintings
on loan from Cardiff and questionably by Wilson are displayed in the Senior
Common Room. A small "White Monk" is hardly good enough for Wilson, while the
better
"Shrewsbury: Old Welsh Bridge" is not fully accepted as a Wilson. There is a
large "Conway Castle" by George Barret in the same room.
Apart from the portrait of Rowland Jones in Chirk Castle, the only Wilson on
display in North Wales is in
Penrhyn Castle, a National Trust property near Bangor, where it hangs high
in the Breakfast Room (take binoculars!). It is a unique painting looking down a
wide estuary to the sea with Italianate buildings and gardens in the middle
ground. Penrhyn Castle also has a typical Gainsborough landscape in the Dining
Room.
The Yale Centre for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut (Tues-Sat 10-5 (Sun 12-5); free) has one of the largest Wilson collections in the world, having acquired many that were in private hands when Constable produced his catalogue (1953). Ten of its 18 Wilsons were on view in 2002 in the permanent collection on the fourth floor, including the two large views of Dinas Bran that used to hang in the London house of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn in St. James. They are displayed in separate rooms, one under "The Edge of Civilization" with a Turner "Harlech Castle" and a large "Snowdon" by von Loutherberg, and the other under "Ideal Landscape". A full-size version of the famous "Niobe" is displayed next door under "History Painting", while the following "Grand Tour" room contains three of Wilson's Italian views: a fine "View of Rome from the Villa Madama" with the RW monogram clearly visible, a small oil sketch of "Lago d'Agnano" and an uncommon "Italian Landscape (morning)" with an uncommon signature. In the "Discovery of Britain" room, there is a small oil sketch of his "Dover" and an interesting version of "Caernarvon Castle" with an artist painting in the foreground. In the same room is a view of Box Hill by George Lambert, a companion to the painting in the Tate. The famous view of the "Pagoda in Kew Gardens" is displayed alongside a unique "St. James Park Wilderness" in the "Artist and the Garden room". The collection includes landscapes by Gainsborough (five on display), Joseph Wright and Stubbs, plus a very attractive George Morland (Rustic Family passing a watermill, 1790) and several "English" Canalettos. A range of the work of both Constable and Turner can be seen, a couple of the latter showing Wilson influence as well as that of Claude. The collection offers an outstanding experience of 18th/19thC landscape painting in Britain and the only "permanent" Wilson display to rival that of Cardiff.
In London, the
National Gallery displays two important views of the Dee between Holt and
Chester in Room 35. Acquired from the Tollemache collection in 1953, they have
not been cleaned from fear of crack damage. The rich collection here enables you
to "place" Wilson in a long tradition of landscape from Giorgione, through
Rubens and Claude, to Gainsborough and Constable.
Tate Britain usually has 3 or 4 Wilsons
on display, but it rotates its large collection on a fairly regular basis. The Tate website
gives up-to-date information on what is displayed. The
National Portrait Gallery is
displaying a Flora MacDonald portrait by Wilson (see also Edinburgh) and the
V & A is displaying River
Mouth with Peasants Dancing, the "other half" of Pastoral Scene in the Oxford
Ashmolean,at the beginning of its "Britain: 1750-1900" exhibit. The
Wallace Collection
(Manchester Square, London) has no Wilsons, but does have an impressive display
of relevant landscapes by Rubens, Claude, Dughet, Rosa and Vernet.
The Tate and the National Portrait Galleries have complete catalogues on their
websites, with most items illustrated, while The National Gallery has an
excellent CD-ROM and has recently improved its website with images of all
paintings. The V & A website has greatly improved in the last few years, with a "Search the Collection"
facility that not only finds Wilson paintings but tells you if they are on display.
The Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London offers easy parking and an excellent collection of 17th-early 19thC landscapes. The "Cascatelle at Tivoli" shows Wilson at his most poetic. It is displayed in a small room but can be seen at its best from a distance through the doorway to the adjacent room, which has a modest Claude and a large Duguet (the latter bearing little resemblance to Wilson, as usual). There are a number of paintings on display by Cuyp, who Wilson admired, including some of his best work.
The Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, a few miles across the Mersey on the road to North Wales, display 7 Wilsons between them. The range and quality of these paintings makes Merseyside second only to Cardiff and London as the place to see Wilson at his best in the UK.
· The two important Wilsons in the Walker Gallery, the famous Snowdon and the Valley of the Mawddach, have now been joined by a third. The large painting, "Phaeton's Petition to Apollo", was one of a set of four commissioned by Henry Blundell for Ince Hall near Liverpool and was acquired by the UK Government in 1999, in lieu of a tax commitment of £170,000 (Blundell paid Wilson 70 guineas). This work is more imposing than another of the series displayed in the Bristol Gallery. The same room has four Wrights, four Stubbs and "A view in Borrowdale" by John Rathbone (the "Manchester Wilson" 1750-1807), though this particular painting may not be the one which shows Wilson's influence most strongly. The painting by Dughet (Gaspar) in an adjacent room offers an easier comparison with Wilson than displays elsewhere (e.g. Cardiff, London and Oxford).
· The four Italian/classical scenes in the Lady Lever are perhaps more for the specialist, since three of them are in rather poor condition and, perhaps for that reason, poorly displayed and under glass. A real treat for the Wilson enthusiast, nevertheless. The fourth, a "Tivoli: Villa of Maecenas", hangs high in the Greek Vase Room. The gallery also has landscapes by Gainsborough and Constable and the famous harvest scenes by Stubbs. Another bonus for the visitor here is the unusual atmosphere of Port Sunlight Village, built by Lord Lever next to his Soap works as a community for the factory workers.
Two Wilsons are displayed in the refurbished Manchester City Art Gallery. In room 1, the Valley of the Mawddach originally in Heaton Hall is now displayed in much better light alongside a Wright Caernarvon Castle and a Ludlow Castle by JC Ibbetson. A welcome move, even though the Liverpool version is better. In room 2, Wilson's subtle but modest Hadrian's Villa sits alongside large landscapes by Turner [Thomson's Aeolian Harp] and Claude [Adoration of the Golden Calf], with works by Dughet, Vernet and Wilson's pupil, Hodges. In the early Turner [1809], resemblances to Wilson are unusually clear in the figures, including the shepherd boy, and a special golden hue in the sky. Comparison with the adjacent Claude shows Turner's debt to this artist, but Claude's figures are more part of the action than Wilsonian decorative motifs. To have, alongside these, one of Wilson's larger and more "Claudean" canvases, such as Manchester's own "Cicero's Villa", would make a splendid and instructive display. Elsewhere in the gallery are 12 small 17thC Dutch landscapes and landscapes by Morland, Collins, Samuel Palmer and Cox. Two more of the Gallery's five Wilsons are on display elsewhere in Greater Manchester. Platt Hall on the Wilmslow Road has an important version of "On the Arno" displayed in the upstairs Dining Room in exactly the position it was commissioned for in 1764 (signed and dated). There are no other landscapes of interest in the Hall which is now a Museum of Costume. Heaton Hall in Heaton Park in the north of the city has the fine "Cicero's Villa" on display in the Dining Room, though one can't get close to it. Other 18thC landscapes on display include a George Lambert and a John Wootton in the Music Room and a William Marlow townscape "Lyon" in the Long Corridor. There are also portraits by Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Joseph Wright and Batoni. The building itself is a good example of an elegant 18thC mansion. Wythenshawe Hall is, in contrast, a 16th and 17thC Hall of considerable architectural interest, though the "School of Wilson", a copy of the "Pembroke Castle" in Cardiff, is of no great interest, except as a reminder of Wilson's own accomplishment as a painter.
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, is displaying three very fine Wilson oils; two beautiful Roman scenes and the half-painting "Pastoral Scene with Musicians" (other half in the V & A, London). In the same small room are Vernet's "River Scene with Bathers" (there is a Vernet coast scene elsewhere) and a Tivoli landscape in the Wilson style by Joseph Wright. Claude's last painting (Ascanius and the Stag) can be seen in the adjacent room with a Dughet view of the Roman Campagna. Other landscapes of note include three Ruisdaels and a Bril, Edward Lear's "Thermopylae" and a Zuccarelli watercolour. The "Wintry landscape" by Joos de Momper is notable for its lack of resemblance to Wilson. There is also a good collection of Wilson drawings in the Print Room (appointment only).
Wilton House near Salisbury, ancestral home of the Earls of Pembroke, has no less than nine Wilsons displayed side-by-side in the Upper Cloister, which is the first room one sees but the last on the self-guided tour. There are 5 views of Wilton House, the SE view being much better than the others and having a typical Wilson glowing sky. Some of the others were once regarded as "School of Wilson" and pupils in his studio may have had a hand in them. A smaller 'sketch' of the SE view is also displayed; the SE painting was also engraved and 3 other versions exist, emphasizing its relative importance. Three smaller, but very attractive, oils are a classical ruins scene (Tomb of Horatii and Curatii) and two versions of a 'Fallen tree at Ariccia'. Nearby are 4 views of Westcombe House by George Lambert, who must have influenced Wilson's topographical work, and 2 large London views by another senior contemporary, Samuel Scott. Among the Wilsons, there is also a Zuccarelli landscape for direct comparison. Other relevant landscapes among the outstanding collection in the rest of the house include a beautiful Vernet, a Rubens, an unusual Claude and a mountain scene by Rosa. The tour is self-guided, allowing as much time as required with each painting, but helpful and informed guides are always on hand. In the Exhibition area is a Doll's House which contains two of the Wilson Wilton views in miniature.
In Edinburgh, the National
Gallery once had an outstanding view by Wilson of Caernarvon Castle on loan,
but that has been returned, while the Portrait Gallery has a Flora
MacDonald Portrait. As befits a National Gallery, first class landscapes by
Claude, Gainsborough and Constable can also be found, as well as instructive
landscape work in the Titians. The
Glasgow Kelvingrove Art
Gallery has a very attractive version of the Anconetta on panel (though
considered "very doubtful" by Constable [1953])
Not too far south of Edinburgh is the Bowes Museum in
Barnard Castle (near Durham)
where a version of the small
"River and Farmhouse" is rather poorly displayed, too high in an alcove with
inadequate lighting
The Huntington Art Gallery is an oasis of European civilisation secreted at San Marino in the affluent suburbs of Los Angeles (Tues-Sun, 11 or 12-5; US$8-50 including gardens and exhibitions). The only Wilson here is the original "Bathers/cattle/ruin" landscape (Constable 99b) but it is also one of his finest. At first, the picture seems dark and poorly lit under low artificial lighting, but once the eyes have had half-an-hour to recover from the harsh California sunshine outside, the sympathetic and appropriate display can be appreciated. Other landscapes of interest include two Claudes and an important Gainsborough, as well as works by Turner and Joseph Wright of Derby, though the major attraction is the collection of British portraits by the 18thC masters.
The Birmingham City Art Gallery (UK) has one of the largest Wilson landscapes, a view of Okehampton castle in Devon. Well-displayed, though under glass. The Gallery also has a Claude (Rome near Ponte Molle) is a nearby gallery and two tiny oils by Wilson's pupil, Thomas Jones. There is also an exhibition of 18thC British water-colours (Sandby, Towne, Cozens, etc). Down the road at the centre of Birmingham University, the Barber Institute displays a charming View of the Dee with an unusual (and unusually prominent) "R.W." signature instead of the monogram, painted for Eaton Hall near Chester. More imposing landscapes in the same Gallery include a Claude, a striking Rubens, a Joseph Wright and two Gainsboroughs. There is also landscape work by Marco Ricci in a large classical painting.
The Wolverhampton Art Gallery (UK) is small but has a whole room devoted to 18thC painting. The Wilson "Niagara Falls" is hung at the bottom of the main staircase. Other landscapes include a large view in India by Hodges, "The Coming Storm" by George Morland and a Snowdon watercolour by Paul Sandby. Portraits include two large works by Gainsborough.
The Southampton City Art Gallery (UK) is currently (at least to Sep, 2003) displaying its large "Summer Evening" (or "On the Arno" or "Classical Landscape") alongside landscapes by Wright of Derby, Salvator Rosa, Turner, Bril, Morland, Ibbetson and Joos de Momper.
The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery has a large Diana and Callisto, one of 4 oils painted for Ince Hall in Lancashire. It is said to be the best of the four, though to my mind, the newly-displayed Phaeton at the Walker Gallery, Liverpool, compares very well indeed. The gallery has few other relevant landscapes, except for a William Marlow. "Worth a detour".
The Louvre (Paris) DOESN'T HAVE ANY WILSONS!!, but the 17thC French and Flemish artists who influenced Wilson are well-represented. The 11 canvases by Claude on display are mostly seascapes and port scenes, so the relationship to Wilson's work is not altogether clear from these alone. However, there are 4 large paintings on display by Joos de Momper [1564-1635] and the superficial similarity to Wilson landscapes is quite striking in some of these, though the "Momper" paintings that Wilson admired are thought to be by a quite different artist (Waterhouse, 1968). The Louvre Mompers are mountain landscapes with dramatic light effects. Several by Paul Bril in the same room. Wilson's contemporary, Vernet, is also well-represented, with 2 Roman scenes as well as 4 or 5 of his more famous Ports of France (15 of the latter are displayed in the Musee de la Marine in Paris).
The Indianapolis Museum of Art has the earliest and largest of 3 versions of Apollo and the Seasons, recently restored after damage during earlier cleaning. 17th century European landscapes on view include a Flight into Egypt by Claude and works by Bril, Both, Jan Breughel and Ruisdael. There are also two paintings by Jan van Scorel from the 1540s with a strong landscape element.
The Toledo Museum of Art is displaying one of the original versions of The White Monk in a widely-representative and impressive collection of European paintings that includes landscapes by Gainsborough, Claude, Zuccarelli and Joos de Momper.