A Summer Evening (On the Arno - I) (previously called Dolbadarn Castle)
Richard Wilson (Penegoes 1714 - Mold 1782)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1764 - 1782
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
762 x 1219 mm (30 x 48 in)
Place of origin
Great Britain
Order this imageCollection
Tyntesfield, North Somerset
NT 20943
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, A Summer Evening (On the Arno - I) (previously called Dolbadarn Castle) by Richard Wilson, RA (Penegoes 1714 – Mold 1782), circa 1764. The castle is on a prominatory on the right and two boys are in the foregound, one on the left lying down with a fishing rod, the other standing and gesticulating on the right. Dolbadarn Castle rests on a rocky hillock at the tip of Llyn Padarn, perched above a roadway near Llanberis, in Gwynedd, north Wales. It was built by the Princes of Gwynedd some time before 1230 and was active through at least 1284 and into the early 15th century. However, this is almost identical to View on the Arno at Petworth (NT 486176) and therefore is probably not Dolbadarn. Wilson spent between 1752-57 in Italy and produced paintings of Italianate landscapes for the rest of his life. He also painted views in his native Wales and it is sometimes difficult to be sure, as with this painting, whether he meant to evoke the Arno, the Po, the Tiber or the Dee valley. The composition is similar to that found in many of his scenes, combining supposed topographical detail, studied in North Wales and Cheshire, but with some artistic licence.
Provenance
Painted for Mr Ingram of Colne; Frost and Reed; purchased by George Abraham Gibbs (1873 - 1931) from Shepherd Brothers, 1911, for £480; purchased by the National Trust from the estate of the late George Richard Lawley Gibbs, 2nd Baron Wraxall (1928 – 2001) with the assistance of the NHMF, Art Fund and donations from members and supporters in 2002
Credit line
Tyntesfield, The Gibbs Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Secured to the front of the frame is a label with the following, Doldabarn Castle, R. Wilson, b. 1714, d. 1782.
Makers and roles
Richard Wilson (Penegoes 1714 - Mold 1782), publisher
References
Constable 1953 W. G. Constable, Richard Wilson, London, 1953, not included but variants of the view listed, pp.176-7, nos 37b