Dimensions: support: 495 x 419 mm frame: 623 x 555 x 68 mm
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have Richard Wilson's portrait of Francesco Zuccarelli. The subject's gaze is so direct. What can you tell me about this portrait? Curator: Beyond the aesthetic, consider the power dynamics at play. Wilson, an English artist, painting Zuccarelli, an Italian one, speaks to the artistic exchange and, arguably, the appropriation inherent in the Grand Tour era. How does this portrait perform within that colonial gaze? Editor: That's fascinating. I hadn't considered the colonial aspect of it at all. Curator: It's a reminder that even portraiture can be read through a lens of cultural power. Editor: I'll never look at a portrait the same way again! Curator: Precisely! Art demands we question, challenge, and contextualize.
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tate about 2 months ago
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wilson-francesco-zuccarelli-n03727
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tate about 2 months ago
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This portrait of the Italian landscape painter Zuccarelli was painted when Wilson was working in Italy. Although he later established himself as the leading painter of classical landscapes, Wilson started out as a portrait painter. The rather modest and informal qualities of this image are typical of British portrait painting of this period. Zuccarelli painted literary and mythological landscape scenes and encouraged Wilson to do the same. Like his contemporary Reynolds, Wilson exploited his Italian experience to re-establish himself as a painter in the ‘grand style’ that suited the increasingly pretentious tastes of British art patrons. Gallery label, September 2004
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