Solitude

Richard Wilson

National Gallery of Art

The partial ruins of a stone lion on a tall pedestal stands at the edge of a body of water in a verdant green landscape in this horizontal painting. The lion statue is broken so only the back half of the body and one front paw remain. The animal’s tail winds through the back legs, and the front paw rests on a ball. The pedestal is chipped and cracked, and some of the surface on the front is worn away to show brick underneath. A pale-skinned man lies on the ground with one elbow propped on the base of the pedestal. His chest is bare. A white cloth drapes over his head, hiding much of his face, and a pale yellow cloth lies across his hips. He holds in other hand to his chest and looks down at a book propped on a rock. A wooden cross, about the length of the man’s torso, also rests against the rock. Grasses and plants cover the ground around the man. A bank of deeply shaded trees rises up the left side of the canvas. Another person sits and one more stands at the foot of the trees, both wearing tan-colored robes. The seated person has short hair and bare feet. He looks down on the open pages of a book in his lap. The standing man has a long white beard, a hooded robe, and a walking stick. The waterline curves in a sharp C to our right, from behind the lion statue to near the trees. On the far side is a low arched entrance, perhaps to a grotto. The heavy branches of a willow tree bow over the water’s surface and leafy vines hang down a rocky cliff nearby. The water winds into the distance to our right, back toward a line of trees and bushes. In the deep distance, smoke wafts out the top of a mountain, presumably a volcano. White puffy clouds float against a pale blue sky above.