George Augustus Wallis, 'Rocks, Tree Trunks and Branches', about 1800
Rocks, Tree Trunks and Branches
On loan: Gere Collection Paintings to the Ashmolean (2024 - 2026), The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, UK About the work
Overview
This bleak yet powerful depiction of rocks and branches was probably painted during Wallis's stay in Italy between 1788 and 1806. The artist often chose such simple subjects, also recording rocky outcrops, forest paths, ancient ruins overgrown with greenery, and as here, the accidental conjunctions of nature. In this painting Wallis deftly records the texture of moss on rocks and bark.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Rocks, Tree Trunks and Branches
- Artist
- George Augustus Wallis
- Artist dates
- 1761 - 1847
- Date made
- about 1800
- Medium and support
- Oil on paper
- Dimensions
- 46.2 × 44.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery
- Inventory number
- L872
- Location
- On loan: Gere Collection Paintings to the Ashmolean (2024 - 2026), The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, UK
- Image copyright
- The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery, © Private collection 2000. Used by permission
- Collection
- Main Collection
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
More works by George Augustus Wallis
In 1788, one of George Augustus Wallis’s many patrons, Lord Warwick, financed a trip to Italy. Around that year he arrived in Naples, where he stayed for a number of years, before moving to Rome in 1795. He was nicknamed ‘le Poussin anglais’ by his fellow English artists, and his future son-in-la...