Virgil's Tomb (Joseph Wright paintings)

Virgil's Tomb is the title of at least three paintings completed by Joseph Wright of Derby between 1779 and 1785.

Virgil's Tomb, with the Figure of Silius Italicus

Artist	Joseph Wright of Derby
Year	1779 (others 1782 and 1785)
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	101.6 cm × 127 cm (40.0 in × 50 in)
Location	private collection

Description

The subject of these paintings is a fruit of Wright's Italian tour undertaken in 1773-1775. These three depict the ruined structure near Naples that was traditionally identified as the tomb of the Latin epic poet Virgil. The earliest of the three, dated to 1779, includes the figure of Silius Italicus, a slightly later poet known to have been an admirer of Virgil. Siliacus Italicus owned the tomb and its surroundings and organized pilgrimages for other admirers of the poet.^[1]

Virgil's Tomb: the 1782 version in Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Virgil's Tomb: sun breaking through a cloud: the 1785 version in the Ulster Museum, Belfast

In total, Wright used the subject in seven paintings.^[2] He sent one of the paintings to poet William Hayley who returned the favour by writing Ode to Mr Wright of Derby.^[3]
Unlike Wright's paintings of candlelit scenes, the views of Virgil's tomb are "flooded with oppressive lunar light"^[4]. They reflect from a stage of Wright's artistic development when "he held a delicate balance between what actually was there, and what he liked to construct out of what was there" .^[5]

Provenance

One of the paintings was given to William Hayley who gave it to the artist Amelia Opie. When she died it went to Thomas Brightwall. Another of the paintings was reputedly in the possession of Rev. Thomas Gisborne who Wright visited in his estate near Needwood Forest. This painting was owned by the Barton Blount estates in 1968 and by 1981 it was sold by Miss Ward to Derby Museum and Art Gallery for £12,000.^[6] The picture with Scilius Italicus in Derby Museum is, according to Benedict Nicolson, not necessarily by Wright.^[7]

Bibliography

• Benedict Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby: painter of light (1968) vol. 1 pp. 83-85 and passim

References

1. ^ Silius Italicus, Poet of the Second Punic War Hellenic World
2. ^ Virgil’s Tomb (1782) Exhibition Revolutionary Players
3. ^ Attempts toward fame and fortune: Joseph Wright of Derby and late-renaissance Humanism. Free Library
4. ^ (Nicolson, p. 83)
5. ^ (Nicolson, p. 83)
6. ^ Virgil's Tomb by Moonlight, Joseph Writht, Artfund, accessed September 2011
7. ^ (Nicolson p.258From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

                                                                 
Giovanni Battista Piranesi   

Giovanni Battista (also Giambattista) Piranesi (4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric "prisons" 

(Carceri d'Invenzione).

Piranesi was born in Mogliano Veneto, near Treviso, then part of the Republic of Venice. His brother Andrea introduced him to Latin and the ancient civilization, and later he studied as an architect under his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi, who was Magistrato delle Acque, a Venetian engineer who specialized in excavation.

From 1740 he was in Rome with Marco Foscarini, the Venetian envoy to the Vatican. He resided in the Palazzo Venezia and studied under Giuseppe Vasi, who introduced him to the art of etching and engraving. After his studies with Vasi, he collaborated with pupils of the French Academy in Rome to produce a series of vedute (views) of the city; his first work was Prima parte di Architettura e Prospettive (1743), followed in 1745 by Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna.

From 1743 to 1747 he sojourned mainly in Venice where, according to some sources, he frequented Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. He then returned to Rome, where he opened a workshop in Via del Corso. In 1748–1774 he created a long series of vedute of the city which established his fame. In the meantime Piranesi devoted himself to the measurement of many of the ancient edifices: this led to the publication of Antichità Romane de' tempo della prima Repubblica e dei primi imperatori ("Roman Antiquities of the Time of the First Republic and the First Emperors"). In 1761 he became a member of the Accademia di San Luca and opened a printing facility of his own. In 1762 the Campo Marzio dell'antica Roma collection of engravings was printed.

The following year he was commissioned by Pope Clement XIII to restore the choir of San Giovanni in Laterano, but the work did not materialize. In 1764 Piranesi started his sole architectural works of importance, the restoration of the church of Santa Maria del Priorato in the Villa of the Knights of Malta in Rome, where he was buried after his death, in a tomb designed by Giuseppi Angelini.

In 1767 he was created a knight of the Golden Spur, which enabled him henceforth to sign himself "Cav[aliere] Piranesi". In 1769 his publication of a series of ingenious and sometimes bizarre designs for chimneypieces, as well as an original range of furniture pieces, established his place as a versatile and resourceful designer. In 1776 he created his famous Piranesi Vase, his best known work as a 'restorer' of ancient sculpture. In 1777–78 Piranesi published Avanzi degli Edifici di Pesto, (Remains of the Edifices of Paestum) a collection of views of Paestum.

He died in Rome in 1778 after a long illness and buried in the Church of Santa Maria del Priorato, on the Aventine hill in Rome.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.