An Extensive Landscape with Cottages near a Lake
Artist
Richard Wilson
British, 1713/14–1782
Datecirca 1744–45
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions32 x 49 1/8 in. (81.3 x 124.8 cm)
Frame: 40 1/8 x 57 7/8 in. (101.9 x 147 cm)
Frame: 40 1/8 x 57 7/8 in. (101.9 x 147 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina, by exchange, and the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), in memory of Richard S. Schneiderman, director of the North Carolina Museum of Art (1986-1993)
Object number99.4
On View
Not on viewPainted some five years before Wilson's departure for Italy, this work is almost certainly based on a particular site in his native north Wales. The artist orchestrates a series of contrasting elements, blending one imperceptibly into another. Coexisting in perfect pictorial harmony are peasants and aristocrats, work and leisure, hilly escarpments and low-lying plain, and areas of light and shadow. A church steeple on the horizon seems to lend a Christian seal of approval to Wilson's vision of a British paradise of leisure, peace, and plenty.
[D. Steel, date unknown]
ProvenanceColonel M.H. Grant; sold at Sotheby's (London), June 14, 1961, lot 89; Captain R.S. de Quincey; purchased by NCMA from Agnew's, London, 1999.Published ReferencesDavid H. Solkin, The Landscape of Reaction (exhibition catalogue) (London: The Tate Gallery, 1982), cat. no. 6, illus.
David Steel, "Landscape Painting Enchances British Collection," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (November/December 1999), 10, Illus. (b-w).
David Steel, "Portrait of the Artist, Richard Wilson," North Carolina Museum of Art Preview and Calendar of Events (November/December 1999), 11.
"Art Acquisitions," North Carolina Museum of Art Annual Report (1998-99), 8, illus. (b-w) 9.
"La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1574 (March 2000), listed no. 208, illus. (b-w) 53
Caitlin Cleary, "Their art's desire," Raleigh, NC: The News and Observer (August 1, 2004), discussed 1G, illus. (b-w) 6G.
David Steel, entry for An Extensive Landscape with Cottages near a Lake, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 334, illus. (color) 335.
Ross White, "In Dispraise of Pastoral" in “You Are the River: Literature Inspired by the North Carolina Museum of Art,” edited by Helena Feder (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2021), illus (color) 164.Exhibition HistoryLondon, Tate Gallery, "Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction," 1982, cat. no. 6, illus.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Objects of Desire: The Museum Collects, 1994-2004," July 18, 2004-February 27, 2005.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “History and Mystery: Discoveries in the NCMA British Collection,” August 6, 2016–June 25, 2017. Object Rights Statement
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