Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
studio of <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-wilson-606" aria-label="More by Richard Wilson" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Wilson</a>
Tivoli
Bequeathed by J.M.W. Turner 1856
adults
architecture
art and craft
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
classical
countries and continents
figure
hill
Italy
landscape
leisure and pastimes
painting
people
periods and styles
places
rocky
sunset
times of the day
Tivoli - non-specific
townscape, distant
townscapes / man-made features
water: inland
waterfall
<p>This picture formed part of the Turner Bequest so certainly belonged to him. It is a replica of Wilson's picture in the Dulwich College Gallery which passed from the Desenfans collection to that of Sir Francis Bourgeois in 1807. Turner made a study of Wilson's art and technique when learning to paint himself, so a question of attribution hangs over it - especially as contemporary visitors to his house observed that he hung works that looked like examples of Wilson and other painters, but were in fact by himself. The source of Turner's 'Wilsons' is not known, but he was on good terms with his pupil, Joseph Farington.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2001</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
5 March 2001 – 15 July 2001
2001-07-15
5 March 2001 – 15 July 2001
2001-07-15
2001-03-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-03-05
House and Studio [TB CL2001]
Collection based display
Tivoli
support: 737 × 965 mm
Bequeathed by J.M.W. Turner 1856
<p>This picture formed part of the Turner Bequest  so certainly belonged to him. It is a replica of Wilson's picture in the Dulwich College Gallery which passed from the Desenfans collection  to that of Sir Francis Bourgeois in 1807. Turner made a study of Wilson's art and technique  when learning to paint himself, so a question  of attribution hangs over it - especially as contemporary visitors to his house observed  that he hung works that looked like examples  of Wilson and other painters, but were in fact  by himself. The source of Turner's 'Wilsons'  is not known, but he was on good terms  with his pupil, Joseph Farington. </p>
Display caption
2001-08-10T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p>[from]<b> Nos. 545–60: Works Formerly Attributed to Turner</b></p>
<p><b>Nos. 545–7a: Richard Wilson (1713 or 1714–1782) or his Studio</b></p>
<p><b>545. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wilson-tivoli-n05538" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05538</span></a>]<b> Tivoli: The Cascatelle</b> </p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (5538)</p>
<p>Canvas, 29 × 38 (73·5 × 96·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (296, with marginal note ‘(copy from Wilson)’; identified 1946 by chalk number on back); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 167, 191; Gage 1965, p. 23 n. 54; Gage 1969, p. 36; Chubb 1981, p. 417 n.1.</p>
<p>A close replica of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> by Wilson in the Dulwich College Gallery which passed from the Desenfans to the Bourgeois collection in 1807 (28 1/4 × 38; repr. W.G. Constable, <i>Richard Wilson</i> 1953, pl. 117a). To judge by the style and tonality, the replica is almost certainly by Wilson or from his studio rather than by Turner, though Chubb gives reasons, not convincing to the compiler, for suggesting that the picture was perhaps painted <i>c</i>. 1807 or later as a companion to No. 44, <i>q.v </i>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-tivoli-and-the-roman-campagna-after-wilson-n05512" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05512</span></a>].</p>
<p><b>546. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wilson-valley-with-a-bridge-over-a-river-n01890" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01890</span></a>]<b> Valley with a Bridge over a River</b> </p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (1890)</p>
<p>Canvas, 39 3/4 × 53 1/2 (101 × 136·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> ?Garnons Bequest 1854 <i>or</i> Turner Bequest 1856 (see below); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1947.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 153, 177; W. G. Constable, <i>Richard Wilson</i>
1953, p. 130.</p>
<p>A plaque formerly attached to the face of the picture bore the number ‘1890’, a National Gallery inventory number allocated in about 1900–01 and identifying the picture as being from the Garnons Bequest. This bequest consisted of a group of sixteen pictures from Colommendy House near Mold in Wales, and were traditionally held to have been taken there in an unfinished state by Richard Wilson when he retired from London in about 1780. Unfortunately only one of the pictures was given an inventory number when the pictures entered the National Gallery in 1854, no. 267 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-shipping-off-east-cowes-headland-n01999" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01999</span></a>], now in the Tate Gallery and accepted as by Wilson. The others were numbered in two batches, <i>c</i>. 1900–01 (1859, 1880, 1889–91) and <i>c</i>. 1914 (2977–89). One further work was not numbered until 1944 (5560). A number of these works are no longer attributed to Wilson and they may not all in fact be Garnons pictures. (For the Garnons Bequest see Davies 1946, p. 177.)</p>
<p>This picture was catalogued as School of Richard Wilson until 1946, when Martin Davies reattributed it as an early Turner, and for this reason suggested that it was in fact a hitherto unidentified Turner Bequest picture. In the comparable case of No. 547 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wilson-niagara-falls-n01891" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01891</span></a>], a version of Wilson's <i>Niagara Falls</i>
the same size as this picture, Davies' similar reattribution has since been reversed, and it is tempting to do the same in this case, despite W. G. Constable's verdict, ‘Very improbably by Wilson’. Certainly the size is unusual for Turner (the nearest are Nos. 89 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-ploughing-up-turnips-near-slough-windsor-n00486" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00486</span></a>] and 107 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-abingdon-n00485" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00485</span></a>] of approx 40 × 51 1/4 in. and Nos 461–2 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-yacht-approaching-the-coast-n04662" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04662</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-stormy-sea-with-blazing-wreck-n04658" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04658</span></a>], approx 40 × 56 in.) while being close to a common Wilson format. It is difficult to find parallels among equally unfinished works by Turner; it is nearest to the rather further advanced <i>Valley with a Distant Bridge and Tower</i> (No. 256 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-valley-with-a-distant-bridge-and-tower-n05505" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05505</span></a>]), probably done in the 1820s, rather than to any early work. On the other hand, there are parallels among unfinished Wilson or Wilson school pictures of the kind found among the Garnons Bequest (e.g., Constable <i>op. cit.,</i> pls. 57b, 126c (<i>Niagara Falls</i>, see No. 547 [<span>N01891</span>]) and, outside the Bequest, pls. 129a—a picture which actually belonged to Turner-and 129b).</p>
<p><b>547. </b>[<span>N01891</span>]<b> Niagara Falls</b></p>
<p>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (1891)</p>
<p>Canvas, 39 1/2 × 53 3/4 (100 × 136·5)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> ?Garnons Bequest 1854 <i>or</i> Turner Bequest 1856 (see No. 546 [<span>N01890</span>]); transferred to the Tate gallery 1953.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Davies 1946, pp. 153, 177; W.G. Constable, <i>Richard Wilson</i>
1953, pp. 95, 130, 230–31, rep. pl. 126c.</p>
<p>For the possible mix-up between pictures from the Garnons Bequest and those from the Turner Bequest see No. 546 [<span>N01890</span>]. In this case Davies was again responsible for the reattribution to Turner and his Bequest, entitling the picture ‘Common with Sandpit (?)’, but Constable and other experts have much more decisively returned it to Wilson or his studio. It is a version of the larger picture now in the Wolverhampton Art Gallery, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraved</span></a> by William Byrne in 1774 as by Richard Wilson from a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> made on the spot by Lieutenant William Pierie of the Royal Artillery in 1768.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture art and craft cities, towns, villages (non-UK) classical countries and continents figure hill Italy landscape leisure and pastimes painting people periods and styles places rocky sunset times of the day Tivoli - non-specific townscape, distant townscapes / man-made features waterfall water: inland