Editing Richard Wilson (painter)

{{short description|British painter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Richard Wilson
| image         = Mengs - Richard Wilson.jpg
| caption       = Portrait of Richard Wilson by {{nobreak|[[Anton Raphael Mengs]]}} (1752)
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1714|8|1|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Penegoes]], [[Montgomeryshire]], Great Britain
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1782|5|15|1714|8|1|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Llanferres#Colomendy Hall|Colomendy Hall]] near [[Llanferres]], [[Denbighshire]], Wales, Great Britain
}}
[[File:Wilson-avernus.jpg|thumb|''[[Lake Avernus]] I'' ({{circa|1765}})]]
'''Richard Wilson''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[[List of Royal Academicians|RA]]}} (1 August 1714 – 15 May 1782) was an influential [[Welsh People|Welsh]] [[Landscape art|landscape]] [[Painting|painter]], who worked in Britain and Italy. With [[George Lambert (English painter)|George Lambert]] he is recognised as a pioneer in British art of landscape for its own sake<ref>{{cite book|author=Steven J. Gores|title=Psychosocial Spaces: Verbal and Visual Readings of British Culture, 1750–1820|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5y-MzsfzDQC&pg=PA37|access-date=14 June 2013|year=2000|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-2663-3|page=37}}</ref><ref>Davies, Jenkins et al. (2008) p. 966.</ref> 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".<ref>Davies, Jenkins et al. (2008) p.965</ref> In December 1768 Wilson became one of the founder-members of the [[Royal Academy]]. A ''[[catalogue raisonné]]'' of the artist's work compiled by Paul Spencer-Longhurst is published by the [[Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art]].<ref>[http://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/whats-on/news/richard-wilson-online Richard Wilson - Online!], paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk 10 December 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2016. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160528115935/http://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/whats-on/news/richard-wilson-online Archived here.]</ref>

==Life==
The son of a clergyman, Richard Wilson was born on 1 August 1714, in the village of Penegoes in [[Montgomeryshire]] (now [[Powys]]). The family was an established one, and Wilson was first cousin to [[Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden]].<ref>{{Cite DWB |id=s-WILS-RIC-1713 |title=WILSON, RICHARD (1713-1782), landscape painter |first1=John Edward Horatio |last1=Steegman |first2=Iorwerth Cyfeiliog |last2=Peate |author-link2=Iorwerth Peate |date=1959}}</ref> In 1729 he went to [[London]], where he began as a [[portrait]] painter, under the apprenticeship of an obscure artist, Thomas Wright. Wilson could often be found walking around [[Marylebone Gardens]] with his acquaintance [[Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti]] heading toward the Farthing Pie House,<ref>{{cite web|title=British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol4/pp406-441|access-date=11 February 2015}}</ref> 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]] and the Dutch landscape tradition. [[John Ruskin]] wrote that Wilson "paints in a manly way, and occasionally reaches exquisite tones of colour".<ref name="ruskin 189">{{cite book |title=Modern Painters, Volume I: Part II |url=https://archive.org/details/modernpaintersvo29907gut |author=John Ruskin |location=189}}</ref> 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 (artist)|Thomas Jones]]. His landscapes were acknowledged as an influence by [[John Constable|Constable]], [[John Crome]] and [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]].

Wilson died at [[Llanferres#Colomendy Hall|Colomendy]], [[Denbighshire]] on 15 May 1782, and is buried in the grounds of [[St Mary's Church, Mold]], [[Mold, Flintshire|Flintshire]].

== Works==
[[File:Miss Catherine Jones of Colomendy, near Mold - Richard Wilson.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Miss Catherine Jones of Colomendy, Wilson's  cousin. c.1740]]
In 1948, [[Mary Woodall]], keeper of art at [[Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery]], organized a pioneer exhibition of his work.<ref name="Woodall">Kenneth Garlick, ‘Woodall, Mary (1901–1988)’, [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], Oxford University Press, Sept 2004</ref>

Extant works include:
*'''Landscapes'''
**''Caernarfon Castle''
**''Cock Tavern at Cheam'', at the [[Winnipeg Art Gallery]]
**''Dolbadarn Castle''
**''Dover Castle''
**''Lake Avernus with a Sarcophagus'', at the [[Worcester Art Museum]], 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<!--Q64686131-->'' (1768)
**''[[Francis Ayscough]], Dean of Bristol and tutor to King [[George III]] of Great Britain with his pupils''
**''Miss Catherine Jones of Colomendy, near Mold<!--Q22977135-->'' (1740)

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Westminster Bridge 1774.jpg|''Westminster Bridge under Construction'', 1744
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - The Cock Tavern, Cheam, Surrey - N03136 - National Gallery.jpg|''[[The Cock Tavern at Cheam]]'', 1745
File:Richard Wilson - Dover - Google Art Project.jpg|''Dover Castle'', 1746
File:Richard Wilson - St Peters and the Vatican from the Janiculum, Rome - Google Art Project.jpg|''St Peters and the Vatican from the Janiculum, Rome'', 1757
File:Richard Wilson 002.jpg|''Croome Court, Worcestershire'', 1758
File:Richard Wilson - Wilton House from the Southeast - Google Art Project.jpg|''Wilton House from the Southeast'', 1759
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Lake Avernus and the Island of Capri - N00304 - National Gallery.jpg|''Lake Avernus and the Island of Capri'', 1760
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - View on the River Dee, near Eaton, Cheshire - 486256 - National Trust.jpg|''View on the River Dee'', 1760
File:Richard Wilson - Kew Gardens- The Pagoda and Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Kew Gardens: The Pagoda and Bridge]]'', 1762
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham - N04874 - National Gallery.jpg|''[[The Thames near Marble Hill, Twickenham]]'', 1762
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Hadrian's Villa - N00302 - National Gallery.jpg|''Hadrian's Villa'', 1765
File:Richard Wilson - Summer Evening (Caernarvon Castle) - Google Art Project.jpg|''Caernarvon Castle'', 1765
File:Diana and Callisto (Wilson).png|''[[Diana and Callisto (Wilson)|Diana and Callisto]]'', 1765
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - View in Windsor Great Park - NMW A 71 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|''View in Windsor Great Park'', 1765
File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - On Hounslow Heath - N04458 - National Gallery.jpg|''[[On Hounslow Heath]]'', 1770
File:Richard Wilson - Meleager and Atalanta - Google Art Project.jpg|''Meleager and Atalanta'', 1770
File:Richard Wilson - Llyn-y-Cau, Cader Idris - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Llyn-y-Cau, Cader Idris]]'', 1774
File:Richard Wilson - A View of the Tiber with Rome in the Distance - Google Art Project.jpg|''A View of the Tiber with Rome in the Distance'', 1775
File:Richard Wilson - View of the Wilderness in St. James's Park - Google Art Project.jpg|''View of the Wilderness in St. James's Park'', c.1775
</gallery>

==References==
;References
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Postle, Martin and [[Robin Simon (critic)|Robin Simon]], ''Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting'', New Haven and London, 2014
*{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Wilson, Richard |volume=28 |page=695}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Wilson, Richard|volume=62|pages=120–23}}
*Cole, Timothy. ''[https://archive.org/details/oldenglishmaster00cole Old English masters]'' (New York : The Century Co., 1902) pp.&nbsp;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. ''[http://www.richardwilsononline.ac.uk 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).
*[[David Solkin|Solkin, David H.]], ''Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction'' (Tate Gallery, London, 1982).
*[[John Davies (historian)|Davies, John]], [[Nigel Jenkins]], Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (Eds.). ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''  (University of Wales Press, 2008). {{ISBN|978-0-7083-1953-6}}
*Wright, T., '''Some Account of The Life of Richard Wilson, Esq. RA, with testimonies to his genius and memory, and remarks on his landscapes,'<nowiki/>'' (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824).

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}
*{{Art UK bio|name=Richard Wilson}}
*[https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/entity/%2Fm%2F014358?projectId=art-project Works by Richard Wilson]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} on [[Google Art Project]] (50 works)
*[http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/wilson_richard.html Works by Richard Wilson] on [[ArtCyclopedia]]
*[http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/richard-wilson.htm Richard Wilson] entry in the Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/arts/05iht-melik5.html?ref=arts The Mystery of the British Landscape Master, The New York Times, 4 June 2010]
*Museo virtuale della città di Tivoli [http://www.tibursuperbum.it/ita/museo/index.htm Tivoli - Opere pittoriche su Tivoli]
*[https://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/archives-and-library/archive-collections/w-g-constable W.G. Constable archive]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Richard}}
[[Category:18th-century British painters]]
[[Category:1714 births]]
[[Category:1782 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Montgomeryshire]]
[[Category:Welsh landscape painters]]
[[Category:Welsh male painters]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]