Richard Wilson (1 August 1714 – 15 May 1782) was an influential
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
, who worked in Britain and Italy. With
George Lambert he is recognised as a pioneer in British art of landscape for its own sake and was described in the Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales as the "most distinguished painter Wales has ever produced and the first to appreciate the aesthetic possibilities of his country". In December 1768 Wilson became one of the founder-members of the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
. A ''
catalogue raisonné
A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...
'' of the artist's work compiled by Paul Spencer-Longhurst is published by the
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art is a scholarly centre in London devoted to supporting original research into the history of British Art. It was founded in 1970 and endowed by a gift from Paul Mellon. Since 1996, it has been s ...
.
Life
The son of a clergyman, Richard Wilson was born on 1 August 1714, in the village of Penegoes in
Montgomeryshire
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(now
Powys
Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain.
Geog ...
). The family was an established one, and Wilson was first cousin to
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. In 1729 he went to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, where he began as a
portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...
painter, under the apprenticeship of an obscure artist, Thomas Wright. Wilson could often be found walking around
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it ...
Gardens with his acquaintance
Baretti heading toward the
Farthing Pie House,
now known as the
Greene Man.
From 1750 to 1757 Wilson was in Italy, and became a landscape painter on the advice of
Francesco Zuccarelli. Painting in Italy and afterwards in Britain, he was the first major British painter to concentrate on landscape. He composed well, but saw and rendered only the general effects of nature, thereby creating a personal, ideal style influenced by
Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in It ...
and the Dutch landscape tradition.
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
wrote that Wilson "paints in a manly way, and occasionally reaches exquisite tones of colour".
He concentrated on painting idealised Italianate landscapes and landscapes based upon classical literature, but when his painting, ''
The Destruction of the Children of Niobe'' (c.1759–60), won acclaim, he gained many commissions from landowners seeking classical portrayals of their estates.
Among Wilson's pupils was the painter
Thomas Jones. His landscapes were acknowledged as an influence by
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
,
John Crome
John Crome (22 December 176822 April 1821), once known as Old Crome to distinguish him from his artist son John Berney Crome, was an English landscape painter of the Romantic era, one of the principal artists and founding members of the Norw ...
and
Turner
Turner may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name
*One who uses a lathe for turni ...
.
Wilson died in Colomendy,
Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
on 15 May 1782, and is buried in the grounds of
St Mary's Church, Mold,
Flintshire
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.
Works
In 1948,
Mary Woodall
Mary Woodall also known as "Mighty Mary" (1901–1988) was a British art historian, museum director, and Thomas Gainsborough scholar.
Life and work
Mary Woodall was born in Chelsea, west London, into the "industrial aristocracy". Her father ...
, keeper of art at
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
, organized a pioneer exhibition of his work.
[Kenneth Garlick, ‘Woodall, Mary (1901–1988)’, ]Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004
Extant works include:
*Landscapes
**''Caernarfon Castle''
**''Cock Tavern at Cheam'', at the
Winnipeg Art Gallery
The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...
**''Dolbadarn Castle''
**''Dover Castle''
**''Lake Avernus with a Sarcophagus'', at the
Worcester Art Museum
The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among t ...
, Worcester, MA
**''Lydford Waterfall, Tavistock''
**''River at Penegoes''
**''The Garden of the Villa Madama, Rome''
**''Valley of the Mawddach with Cader Idris''
**''View at Tivoli''
**''View in Windsor Great Park''
**''Cilgerran Castle''
**''Classical Landscape, Strada Nomentana''
**''Conway Castle''
**''Dolgellau Bridge''
**''The Niagara Falls'
**''Pistyll Rhaeadr, Aber Falls''
**''Solitude'' (or ''Landskip with Hermits'')
*Other
**''Ceyx and Alcyone'' (1768)
**''
Francis Ayscough
Francis Ayscough (1701–1763) was a tutor to George III and Clerk of the Closet to his father Frederick, Prince of Wales , Dean of Bristol and tutor to King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
of Great Britain with his pupils''
**''Miss Catherine Jones of Colomendy, near Mold'' (1740)
References
;References
Further reading
*Postle, Martin and
Robin Simon, ''Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting'', New Haven and London, 2014
*
*
*Cole, Timothy.
Old English masters' (New York : The Century Co., 1902) pp. 67–76.
*Fletcher, Beaumont. ''Richard Wilson. R.A. The Makers of British Art'' (Walter Scott, London, 1908).
*Edwards, R. 'Richard Wilson and his pupil', in ''Country Life'' (1945 November)
*Ford, B. ''The Drawings of Richard Wilson'' (1951)
*Constable, W. G. ''Richard Wilson'' (1953)
*Spencer-Longhurst, Paul.
Richard Wilson: Online Catalogue Raisonné' (London: Paul Mellon Centre, 2014).
*Sutton, Denys & Clement, Ann. ''An Italian sketchbook: drawings made by the artist in Rome and its environs'' (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968).
*
Solkin, David H., ''Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction'' (Tate Gallery, London, 1982).
*
Davies, John,
Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (Eds.). ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales'' (University of Wales Press, 2008).
*Wright, T., Some Account of The Life of Richard Wilson, Esq. RA, with testimonies to his genius and memory, and remarks on his landscapes,'
'' (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824).
External links
*
Works by Richard Wilsonon
Google Art Project
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.
It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...
(50 works)
Works by Richard Wilsonon
ArtCyclopedia
Artcyclopedia is an online database of museum-quality fine art founded by Canadian John Malyon.
Information
The Artcyclopedia only deals with art that can be viewed online, and indexes 2,300 art sites (from museums and galleries), with links to ...
Richard Wilsonentry in the Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art
*Museo virtuale della città di Tivol
W.G. Constable archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Richard
18th-century British painters
1714 births
1782 deaths
People from Montgomeryshire
Welsh landscape painters
Welsh male painters
Royal Academicians