Typical of his serious approach to landscape painting is
"Rome from the Villa Madama," c. 1753, in which a slow-
moving river ambles sinuously through verdant meadows
on the purlieus of the distant city, with silent hills looming
in the haze of the far horizon. A few human figures appear
in the foreground of the picture, but seem as much in awe
of the expansive loveliness stretching out before them as
Wilson must have been. His purview of the pastoral scene
is respectful and unobtrusive.
Following his return to England in 1757, Wilson established
a studio where he instructed emerging artists in executing
landscape painting based on his own experiences in Rome.
These experiences of Italy also helped open his "eyes to
the possibilities of the Welsh landscape," as Robin Simon
explains, discovering "new vistas that changed the priori-
Richard Wilson's Holt Bridge on the River Dee
HYLAND
