Oil paint on canvas
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<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>
River on Arno 
Bequeathed by George Salting 1910
adults
agriculture, gardening & fishing
architecture
baby
bank
castle
children
countries and continents
fishing
fishing rod
hill
Italy, Tuscany
landscape
leisure and pastimes
man
military
natural features (non-UK)
objects
people
places
religious
religious
river
River Arno
rocky
ruins
sport
temple
trunk
water: inland
woman
<p>This is one of over thirty similar compositions by Wilson, traditionally said to show a view  on the river Arno in Italy. Wilson and his pupils habitually repeated favourite compositions such as this; Wilson apparently referred  to them as 'good breeders'.</p><p>This painting may, however, simply show  a summer evening rather than a specific place. Wilson's aim seems to have been  to combine two opposing landscape types: the Sublime rocks to the right, and the peaceful beauty of the river landscape  to the left. The sensitive treatment of light gives the picture an overwhelming sense  of tranquillity.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
21 May 2003 – 15 February 2004
2004-02-15
21 May 2003 – 10 August 2003
2003-08-10
2003-05-21
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
22 August 2003 – 26 October 2003
2003-10-26
2003-08-22
Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester, UK)
http://www.whitworth.man.ac.uk
2003-05-21
Thomas Jones-An Original Vision
Loan-out
River View, on the Arno (?)
support: 445 × 546 mm
Bequeathed by George Salting 1910
<p>This is one of over thirty similar compositions by Wilson, traditionally said to depict a view on the river Arno in Italy. Wilson and his pupils habitually repeated favourite compositions such as this, Wilson himself apparently referring to them as 'good breeders' (Constable, p.58). All the versions of 'A View on the Arno', although they vary considerably in size, depict a small group of figures situated upon a promontory in the foreground, with a large boulder to the right and a blasted tree-trunk to the left. Beyond the river to the right is a hilltop fortress, while to the left the landscape lead to a plain with a mountainscape upon the horizon. The present picture is distinguished by the arrangement of the foreground figures - a reclining man with a fishing rod and a mother and baby - and the appearance of a small ruined semi-circular temple reflected in the surface of the lake.

</p><p>The title, 'On the river Arno', was first used to describe the present subject by 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/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraver</span></a>, Thomas Hastings (active 1813-31), in his volume of <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/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etchings</span></a> after Wilson published in 1825. However, as it has been noted, Hastings is by no means a reliable guide to the identification of Wilson's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscapes</span></a> (Constable, p.3).  More recently, David Solkin has noted that in a letter of December 1764 Wilson had described a large version of the subject (City of Manchester Art Galleries), as simply 'A Summer Evening'. In the same letter Wilson stated that the picture was 'Esteemed by the first painters here to be my <i>very best</i> performance', and that he had 'kept 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> of it in order to do another for our next exhibition'. As Solkin observes, Wilson's 'Summer Evening' effects 'a union of opposing landscape types - 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/s/sublime" title="Glossary definition for 'Sublime'"><span>sublime</span></a>' castellated bluffs of the one side, and the peaceful 'beauty' on a Claudean river vista on the other' (Solkin, p.222).

</p><p>During the 1930s the picture was catalogued by the Tate Gallery simply as a 'Lake Scene', attributed to Wilson. In his catalogue of Wilson's oil <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>paintings</span></a>, published in 1953, W.G. Constable identified two principal versions 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/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>, belonging respectively to the Earl of Egremont (Petworth House) and the Earl of Crawford. The version belonging to the Tate Gallery he described as 'Very doubtfully by Wilson' (Constable, p.214). In 1994 the Tate Gallery conserved this picture. The sensitive treatment of light and the dextrous handling of pigment suggest that the painting is by Wilson's own hand.

</p><p>The picture was bequeathed by Mr George Salting to the National Gallery in 1910, and transferred to the Tate Gallery in 1919.

</p><p><b>Further Reading:<br/></b><br/>W.G. Constable, <i>Richard Wilson</i>, London 1953, pp. 213-14<br/>David H. Solkin, <i>Richard Wilson. The Landscape of Reaction</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery 1982, pp.221-2

</p><p>Martin Postle<br/>June 2001</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>
This is one of over thirty similar <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>compositions</span></a> by Wilson, traditionally said to show a view <br/>
on the river Arno in Italy. Wilson and his pupils habitually repeated favourite compositions such as this; Wilson apparently referred <br/>
to them as 'good breeders'.</p>
<p>
 </p>
<p>
This <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> may, however, simply show <br/>
a summer evening rather than a specific place. Wilson's aim seems to have been <br/>
to combine two opposing <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> types: 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/s/sublime" title="Glossary definition for 'Sublime'"><span>Sublime</span></a> rocks to the right, and the peaceful beauty of the river landscape <br/>
to the left. The sensitive treatment of light gives the picture an overwhelming sense <br/>
of tranquillity.</p>
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2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults agriculture, gardening & fishing architecture baby bank castle children countries and continents fishing fishing rod hill Italy, Tuscany landscape leisure and pastimes man military natural features (non-UK) objects people places religious religious river River Arno rocky ruins sport temple trunk water: inland woman