<< YCBA Home Yale Center for British Art Yale Center for British Art << YCBA Home

YCBA Collections Search

 
IIIF Actions
Creator:
Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734–1797
Title:

Lake Nemi

Former Title(s):

Nemi

Date:
between 1790 and 1795
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
14 1/4 × 21 1/2 inches (36.2 × 54.6 cm), Frame: 19 1/2 × 27 inches (49.5 × 68.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.716
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1981.25.716FR
Subject Terms:
boats | buildings | evening | Grand Tour | Italian | lake | landscape | light | road | sailboat | seamen | water
Associated Places:
Italy | Lake Nemi | Lazio | Roma
Access:
Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1173
Export:
XML
IIIF Manifest:
JSON

Lake Nemi, the pendant to Wright’s view of Lake Albano (B1981.25.717), was probably made in the early 1790s, some fifteen years after Wright’s Italian tour of 1773 to 1775. There is a framing tree to the right, while to the left is the town of Nemi itself. In antiquity the lake was sacred to Diana whose sanctuary stood on it banks. The contrast between the two paintings is partly compositional, but extends also to the contrasting times of day in correspondingly cool and warm keys: where Lake Albano is seen in morning light, Lake Nemi is bathed in a warm evening glow. This was a model that Wright undoubtedly knew from his study of the paintings of Richard Wilson, and both compositions, Lake Nemi and Lake Albano, in their careful framing and alternating climatic conditions, reflect similar pairs by Wilson.

Gallery label for Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-03-06 - 2014-06-01)


Lake Nemi, the pendant to Wright’s view of Lake Albano, has a framing tree to the right, while to the left is the town of Nemi itself. The contrast between the two paintings is partly compositional, but extends also to the contrasting times of day in correspondingly cool and warm keys. This was a model that Wright undoubtedly knew from his study of Wilson, and both compositions, Lake Nemi and Lake Albano, in their careful framing and alternating climatic conditions, reflect similar pairs by Wilson.

Gallery label for Wilson in Wales (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-03-06 – 2014-6-1)

Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting (Yale Center for British Art, 2014-03-06 - 2014-06-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Joseph Wright of Derby (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990-09-06 - 1990-12-02) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Joseph Wright of Derby (Musée du Louvre, 1990-05-17 - 1990-07-23) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Joseph Wright of Derby (Tate Britain, 1990-02-07 - 1990-04-22) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Classic Ground - British Artists and the Landscape of Italy, 1740-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-07-29 - 1981-09-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 264, 265, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Matthew Craske, Joseph Wright of Derby : Painter of darkness, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, p. 210, NJ18.W95 C72 2020+ (YCBA) [YCBA]

Judy Egerton, Wright of Derby, Tate Publishing, London, 1990, p. 185, no. 115, NJ18 W95 +E54 1990 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 78, ND466 G67 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Historic Trends in English Painting, The Times (London), Friday, December 2, 1966, p. 20, Available Online : Times Digital Archive Also available on microfilm : An T48.2 (SML) [ORBIS]

Stephen Leach, Joseph Wright and the final farewell, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2023, p. 108, fig. 8.8, NJ18 W95 L43 2023 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Martin Postle, Richard Wilson and the transformation of European landscape painting, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2014, p. 322, Cat. No. 152, NJ18.W72 R53 2014 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Jason Rosenfeld, To Rival Claude, Apollo, vol. 180, July/August 2014, p. 93, N1 A54 (YCBA) [YCBA]


If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.