Richard Wilson, Welsh English Landscape Painter
By: Eartha Linda
Richard Wilson was the foremost artist of the great English Landscape Painters. His grand, brooding landscapes, greatly encouraged and influenced the works of William Turner and John Constable.
Adolescence and Art Training:
Richard Wilson was born on August 1, 1714 in Penegoes, Montgomeryshire in North Wales. His father was a Rector and the family background was very high class. They were linked with some of the finest characters in ‘Local High Society.’ One such example was the very wealthy and highly effective Sir George Wynne, Wilson’s maternal uncle, who noticed his nephew’s artistic talent and encouraged it.
In 1730, Uncle George sent Wilson to London to be apprenticed for six years with a leading painter of the time, Thomas Wright.
Early Profession:
For many years, young Richard Wilson remained dependent on his Uncle’s generosity and gained more of a notoriety as a fashionable young man about town rather than as a painter. But in the 1740s, he knuckled down to the intense business of the fine art creation and gained several necessary patrons.
The most crucial of these was the socially and politically distinguished Lyttleton Household, many members of which commissioned portraits from Wilson. His rising success as a Society Portrait Painter enabled Wilson to moved to a bigger, extra snug studio on the very fashionable Covent Backyard Piazza.
Grand Tour:
In 1750, with the financial backing of his buddy Commodore Thomas Smith, the son of Sir Thomas Lyttleton, Wilson launched began the mandatory ‘Grand Tour.’ As an English gentleman and artist, to promote yourself, it was necessary to travel the European Continent, and especially tour Italy.
Your cultural schooling was not finished until you could walk into your Club and announce loftily, “Sure, I had coffee at the Cafe degli Inglesi in the Piazza di Spagna. Then we did the ruins. They have been so inspiring. You don’t get ruins like these any more. Although, the other day I had a premonition that we’ll build trendier versions in the very distant future.”
After crossing the Channel, Wilson went to Venice and remained there for several months, studying the works of Titian and different Old Masters. He continued working as a Portrait Painter.
He befriended a leading Venetian Landscape Painter, Francesco Zuccarelli, and a rich, painting-loving Englishman, William Lock. Wilson painted a portrait of Zuccarelli and took seriously his advise to focus on landscapes. William Lock bought his paintings and invited him to travel with him. At the beginning of 1751, Wilson left Venice traveling through various notable towns of Italy before reaching the grand city of Rome.
Wilson stayed in Rome until 1757. As was his wont, he chose to settle in the most trendy location on the town – the Piazza di Spagna. This area was a magnet for artists, foreign and native alike. It was where English tourists gathered who were eager to purchase works showing the Roman countryside and monuments and provide many artssts with a very respectable income.
Seeing the demand, Wilson decided to take up oil landscape painting within the classical model with a vengeance. He was inspired by the works of Poussin and Claude Lorraine, as well as that of contemporary painters like Vernet and Mengs.
Along with William Lock, he gained other important patrons like Ralph Howard, Viscount Wicklow, and William Legge, Earl of Darmouth, and the Earl of Leicester, and Cardinal Albani. For William Legge, he produced a quite remarkable sequence of chalk drawings of the Palatine Hill.
Back in England:
Upon his return to England, Wilson set up a grander studio than the one he had left, participated in the founding of the Society of Artists, held many exhibitions, gained a substantial fame, and offered works to an ever growing number of famous patrons at stupendous rates. Success, it appeared, was here to stay.
But with all the money and adulation, Wilson grew smug to the point of rudeness – there’s a famous story about him telling King George III, that it would be quite okay for His Majesty to pay in weekly installments, when the King thought that 100 guineas per oil painting was simply too bloody much. Oops…
The King and Wilson’s former patrons, miffed by his condescending attitude, turned their attention to different artists like the Irish George Barret and Wilson’s old friend, Zuccarelli.
Towards The End:
With little work now coming to him, Wilson took to drinking in an enormous amounts which led to one long slide into poverty and ill-health. When his friends’ efforts failed to save either his health or profession, he was taken again to the family house in Wales. He died right here on May 15, 1782.
Some Famous Works: ‘Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle’, Walker Gallery art painting Gallery, Liverpool; ‘Cader Idris’, Llyn-y-Cau’, Tate Gallery, London. and ‘Llyn Peris and Dolbadarn Fortress’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Author Resource:-> Check out the gallery of painting here. —- Article From Articles For All
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