About this artwork
This oil sketch depicts Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, to the east of Rome. A portrait and landscape painter, Wallis travelled to Italy in 1788/9, working in Naples and Rome. He was associated with an international community of artists and spent time in Spain and Germany. He also worked for the Scottish art dealer William Buchanan, acquiring Velázquez’s celebrated Rokeby Venus (National Gallery, London). Wallis’s Italian oil sketches were only rediscovered in the 1990s and show him to have been an important figure in the development of painting directly from nature.
Published July 2022
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artist:George Augustus Wallis (1761 - 1847) English
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title:Villa Adriana
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date created:1780 - 1790
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materials:Oil on paper
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measurements:34.00 x 51.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1998
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accession number:NG 2693
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gallery:
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subject:
George Augustus Wallis
George Augustus Wallis
A portrait and landscape painter, George Augustus Wallis travelled to Italy in 1788/9, remaining in Rome until 1806. He was associated with some of the major artistic figures of his time such as Hackert, Flaxman, Thorwaldsen and Schinkel, as well as the collector and designer Thomas Hope. He also...