Watercolor with pen and brown and black ink over graphite on medium, moderately textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 12 1/16 x 16 3/8 inches (30.6 x 41.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.4.1571
Gallery Label:
In 1775 the Society of Dilettanti, a group of aristocrats devoted to the promotion of classical culture, paid for William Pars to study in Rome. There he joined a group of young British watercolor artists that also included Francis Towne, John “Warwick” Smith, and John Robert Cozens. This Roman watercolor presents a view from the Colosseum toward the famous double temple of Venus and Rome on the upper Via Sacra with the campanile of the church of San Francesca Romana behind. The minute numbers inscribed on certain buildings suggest that Pars may have intended to engrave the subject with a letterpress key, though no engraving ever appeared. Pars died in Rome, allegedly from pleurisy brought on by standing too long in water while sketching at Tivoli. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
