Watercolor with pen and brown and black ink over graphite on medium, moderately textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 12 1/16 x 16 3/8 inches (30.6 x 41.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in brown ink, lower right: "Coliseo Rome 178[1]"; inscribed on verso in graphite, upper left: "1. 233 | 250"; inscribed on verso in blue chalk, upper left: "1813" inscribed on verso in graphite, lower right: " [Cana] a [...];
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.4.1571
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
cityscape | ruins | fences | hats | men | buildings | campanile | temple | church | trees | grass | wall | architectural subject | sheep | Grand Tour
Associated Places:
Italy | Rome | Lazio | Roma | Santa Francesca Romana | Colosseum | Temple of Venus and Roma
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30)Edward Lear and the Art of Travel (Yale Center for British Art, 2000-09-20 - 2001-01-14)Presences of Nature - British Landscape 1780-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-10-20 - 1983-02-27)Classic Ground - British Artists and the Landscape of Italy, 1740-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-07-29 - 1981-09-20)British Painting and the European Continent (Haus der Kunst Munich, 1979-11-20 - 1980-01-27)The Pursuit of Happiness - A View of Life in Georgian England (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-09-18)English Drawings and Watercolors from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
A loan exhibition of English drawings and watercolours from the collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1964, no. 16, N5247.M385 L62 (YCBA)Duncan Bull, Classic ground : British artists and the landscape of Italy, 1740-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1981, pp. 5, 6, 51-52, no. 70, pl. VIII, ND1354.4 B85 (YCBA)John Gage, Zwei Jahrhunderte englische Malerei : britische Kunst und Europa 1680 bis 1880 : [Ausstellung] Haus der Kunst Mèunchen, 21. November 1979 bis 27. Januar 1980: [Katalog], , Ausstellungsleitung Haus der Kunst München, Munich, 1979, pp. 198, 200, no. 98, fig. 98, ND466 Z85 (YCBA)Louis Hawes, Presences of Nature : British Landscape, 1780-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1982, p. 148, no. III.13, fig. 124, ND1354.4 H38 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, v. 1: intro. p. 7, p. 204, no. 407, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA)J. H. Plumb, The pursuit of happiness : a view of life in Georgian England : an exhibition selected from the Paul Mellon collection, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, p. 37, no. 33, N6766 Y34 1977 (YCBA)Graham Reynolds, Scene and Sensibility, TLS, the Times Literary Supplement, , April 29, 1983, p. 438, TLS Historical ArchiveScott Wilcox, Edward Lear and the art of travel, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2000, pp. 26, 132, no. 149, NJ18 L455 W55 2000 (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 34-35, no. 11, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)Yale University Art Gallery, English drawings and watercolors from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, April 15-June 20,1965, , New Haven, 1965, no. 16, NC228 Y34 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
In 1775 the Society of Dilettanti, a group of aristocrats devoted to the promotion of classical culture, paid for William Pars to study in Rome. There he joined a group of young British watercolor artists that also included Francis Towne, John “Warwick” Smith, and John Robert Cozens. This Roman watercolor presents a view from the Colosseum toward the famous double temple of Venus and Rome on the upper Via Sacra with the campanile of the church of San Francesca Romana behind. The minute numbers inscribed on certain buildings suggest that Pars may have intended to engrave the subject with a letterpress key, though no engraving ever appeared. Pars died in Rome, allegedly from pleurisy brought on by standing too long in water while sketching at Tivoli. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)