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Richard Wilson

Banks of the Tiber

Maker

Richard Wilson (British, 1713/14-1782)

Title

Banks of the Tiber

Year

1757

Medium

  • Red and white chalk on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Red and white chalk on laid paper

Materials

chalk

Dimensions

16.8 x 21.9 cm (6 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

signed and dated 1757

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

2006.122.9

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Exhibition History

Distant Climes
18th-Century British Views of Italy
Sep 01, 2011 – Jun 03, 2012

Label copy

Richard Wilson was one of the earliest British artists to spend an extended period in Rome, staying there for much of the 1750s. While his title for the drawing designates a general location, his broad, monochromatic technique makes the precise site on the Tiber riverbank difficult to identify, indicating the artist’s interest in the general over the specific. Wilson’s familiarity with the philosophy of the sublime, in which nature is awe-inspiring, grand, and ultimately unknowable, is evident in the effect of light created with white chalk, which mysteriously illuminates the small church atop the hill.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Richard Wilson (British, 1713/14-1782)
Banks of the Tiber, 1757
Red and white chalk on laid paper
16.8 x 21.9 cm (6 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches)
Anonymous gift 2006.122.9

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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