Apollo and the Seasons
Apollo and the Seasons
Artist
Creation date
about 1768
Materials
oil on canvas
Dimensions
48 x 67 in.
Credit line
Gift of Mrs. Charlotte Jackson Baldwin
Accession number
57.46
Collection
Currently On View In
Charles O. McGaughey Gallery
Richard Wilson spent much of the decade of the 1750s in Italy, living in both Venice and Rome. Upon his return to England around 1759, he quickly became the preeminent English painter of the classical landscape.
Apollo and the Seasons provides an early example of the picturesque landscape tradition in England. In such works, the genres of landscape and history painting overlap in a way that validates an aesthetic response to nature through nostalgic references to classical literature and mythology. The inclusion of a ruined temple bathed in golden light heightens these literary associations.
Provenance Research is on-going at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and information will be added to this record as research is completed. Please contact Annette Schlagenhauff, Assoc. Curator of Research, at aschlagenhauff@imamuseum.org with any questions.
