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Richard Wilson (artist) Welsh, 1712/1714 - 1782 Solitude, c. 1762/1770 oil on canvas Overall: 142.1 x 210.1 cm (55 15/16 x 82 11/16 in.) framed: 163.8 x 231.6 x 7.6 cm (64 1/2 x 91 3/16 x 3 in.) Paul Mellon Collection 1983.1.45 Not on View |
Richard Wilson began as a portraitist, although he also produced a few topographical paintings early in his career. During his stay in Italy in the 1750s he turned his attention exclusively to depictions of arcadian landscape and developed a personal style that freed him from the realistic constraints of his earlier works. Indeed, Italy's golden Mediterranean light and the ancient ruins that evoked the glory of its classical past affected Wilson long after his return to London in 1756. Like his contemporary Reynolds, Wilson sought to elevate the status of his genre of painting through the systematic application of classical standards.
In this landscape the artist draws on his memories of the Italian countryside as well as on his imagination to create a richly detailed panorama, suffused with a quiet and evocative mood. On a massive pedestal stands the ruin of a statue of a lion with a globe under its paw, symbolizing the inevitability of death and decay. The pagan hermit reading at the base of the statue and the two Christian monks to the left, their church highlighted in a clearing in the woods, seem to share a common hope of discovering answers to the mysteries of life.