John Wootton
A View from Richmond Hill, 1740s
Oil on canvas
25 ½ x 49 in. (64.7 x 124.5 cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com John Wootton was one of the most prominent English landscape painters of the early eighteenth century and is famed for...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
John Wootton was one of the most prominent English landscape painters of the early eighteenth century and is famed for his romantic views of the arcadian English countryside. The present painting is a noteworthy example of his picturesque landscape work which found great popularity amongst the upper echelons of British society; King George II and his son Frederick, Prince of Wales were two of his leading patrons.
The area from Hampton to Kew had been one of quiet market gardens, orchards and villages by the river up until the time of the Tudors. However, with the transformation of the Manor of Shene into Richmond Palace (Henry VII renamed it after his Yorkshire home) and Hampton Court together with the requisite ancillary buildings to support them, its importance and desirability increased and members of the royal family and aristocratic families moved there also, building elegant and substantial homes. Interspersed with the natural woodland and water meadows, magnificent gardens and hunting parks were created and were connected by way of formal avenues of trees. By the time of the eighteenth century there had developed a concentration of influential people in this area, people who had power and the money to exercise it and this in turn attracted both skilled artisans to help realise the ambitions of this moneyed class as well as those who followed the liberal arts (in its more modern sense) such as poets, musicians and writers. With the spectacular view looking west from the top of Richmond Hill, this confluence of ambition and aesthetics led to the area of the Thames from Chiswick to Twickenham to be seen as an English Arcadia to rival views in Italy.
The prospect from Richmond Hill was a popular scene for aristocrats and courtiers to commission from painters and it was initially the Dutch topographical artists who satisfied this demand, to be followed by great Italian painters including Antonio Joli who painted a very similar view to that shown in the present work in around 1750 (Fig. 1). Writers such as the playwrights and poets Joseph Addison and James Thomson and the poet Alexander Pope, writers John Gay and Jonathan Swift (the three yahoos) the actor David Garrick and the politician and art historian Horace Walpole all resided in this area and espoused this classical pastoral ideal, perceiving a natural beauty in the landscape.
The present work was most likely painted in the 1740s when Wootton was at the height of his artistic powers. By this stage he had solidified his reputation as a painter of landscape and sporting art and was receiving prestigious commissions from the aristocracy and gentry who needed impressive pictures to furnish their newly constructed town houses. Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his father King George II were two of Wootton’s most illustrious patrons and the latter’s monumental portrait on horseback ranks among the artist’s most impressive works.
Richmond was evidently an area of great promise for Wootton and around this time he also undertook a drawing of a view from Richmond Hill near the Star and Garter tavern (Fig. 2, British Museum). Wootton retired from painting in 1761 due to failing eyesight and his collection of paintings were sold via public auction in Covent Garden. His artistic legacy endured long after his death in 1764 and his work can now be found in private collections and museums around the world including Tate Britain, which has no less than ten paintings by him in their collection, and the Royal Collection, which owns eleven.
John Wootton was one of the most prominent English landscape painters of the early eighteenth century and is famed for his romantic views of the arcadian English countryside. The present painting is a noteworthy example of his picturesque landscape work which found great popularity amongst the upper echelons of British society; King George II and his son Frederick, Prince of Wales were two of his leading patrons.
The area from Hampton to Kew had been one of quiet market gardens, orchards and villages by the river up until the time of the Tudors. However, with the transformation of the Manor of Shene into Richmond Palace (Henry VII renamed it after his Yorkshire home) and Hampton Court together with the requisite ancillary buildings to support them, its importance and desirability increased and members of the royal family and aristocratic families moved there also, building elegant and substantial homes. Interspersed with the natural woodland and water meadows, magnificent gardens and hunting parks were created and were connected by way of formal avenues of trees. By the time of the eighteenth century there had developed a concentration of influential people in this area, people who had power and the money to exercise it and this in turn attracted both skilled artisans to help realise the ambitions of this moneyed class as well as those who followed the liberal arts (in its more modern sense) such as poets, musicians and writers. With the spectacular view looking west from the top of Richmond Hill, this confluence of ambition and aesthetics led to the area of the Thames from Chiswick to Twickenham to be seen as an English Arcadia to rival views in Italy.
The prospect from Richmond Hill was a popular scene for aristocrats and courtiers to commission from painters and it was initially the Dutch topographical artists who satisfied this demand, to be followed by great Italian painters including Antonio Joli who painted a very similar view to that shown in the present work in around 1750 (Fig. 1). Writers such as the playwrights and poets Joseph Addison and James Thomson and the poet Alexander Pope, writers John Gay and Jonathan Swift (the three yahoos) the actor David Garrick and the politician and art historian Horace Walpole all resided in this area and espoused this classical pastoral ideal, perceiving a natural beauty in the landscape.
The present work was most likely painted in the 1740s when Wootton was at the height of his artistic powers. By this stage he had solidified his reputation as a painter of landscape and sporting art and was receiving prestigious commissions from the aristocracy and gentry who needed impressive pictures to furnish their newly constructed town houses. Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his father King George II were two of Wootton’s most illustrious patrons and the latter’s monumental portrait on horseback ranks among the artist’s most impressive works.
Richmond was evidently an area of great promise for Wootton and around this time he also undertook a drawing of a view from Richmond Hill near the Star and Garter tavern (Fig. 2, British Museum). Wootton retired from painting in 1761 due to failing eyesight and his collection of paintings were sold via public auction in Covent Garden. His artistic legacy endured long after his death in 1764 and his work can now be found in private collections and museums around the world including Tate Britain, which has no less than ten paintings by him in their collection, and the Royal Collection, which owns eleven.