thumb|[[Lake Avernus I ()]]

Richard Wilson (1 August 1714 – 15 May 1782) was a Welsh painter who specialised in landscape art and 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. 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.

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. 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, 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". 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, John Crome and Turner.

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

Works

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.

Extant works include:

  • Landscapes
  • Caernarfon Castle
  • Cock Tavern at Cheam, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery
  • Dolbadarn Castle
  • Dover Castle
  • Lake Avernus and the Island of Capri
  • 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
  • Falls of Niagara
  • 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)

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File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - The Inner Temple after the Fire of 4 January 1737 - N02984 - National Gallery.jpg|The Inner Temple after the Fire of 4 January 1737, 1737

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 (1713-1714-1782) - Dover Castle - NMW A 66 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|Dover Castle, 1747

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Flora Macdonald - NPG 5848 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|Portrait of Flora MacDonald, 1747

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Rome from the Ponte Molle - NMW A 70 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|Rome from the Ponte Molle, 1754

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 - View of Syon House across the Thames near Kew Gardens - WGA25773.jpg|Syon House from Richmond Gardens, 1761

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - The Valley of the Dee, with Chester in the Distance - NG6197 - National Gallery.jpg|The Valley of the Dee, with Chester in the Distance, 1761

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Holt Bridge on the River Dee - NG6196 - National Gallery.jpg|Holt Bridge on the River Dee, 1761

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, 1765

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Pembroke Town and Castle - NMW A 64 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|Pembroke Town and Castle, 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 - Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle - Google Art Project.jpg|Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle , 1766

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Ceyx and Alcyone - NMW A 65 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|Ceyx and Alcyone, 1768

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Cicero and his two Friends, Atticus and Quintus, at his Villa at Arpinum - WA2007.155 - Ashmolean Museum.jpg|Cicero and his two Friends, Atticus and Quintus, at his Villa at Arpinum, 1769-70

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 - Dinas Bran from Llangollen - Google Art Project.jpg|Dinas Bran from Llangollen, 1771

File:Richard Wilson - View near Wynnstay, the Seat of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, BT. - Google Art Project.jpg|View near Wynnstay, 1771

File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - Falls of Niagara - OP96 - Wolverhampton Art Gallery.jpg|Falls of Niagara, 1774

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

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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.&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. 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,'<nowiki/> (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824).
  • Works by Richard Wilson on Google Art Project (50 works)
  • Works by Richard Wilson on ArtCyclopedia
  • Richard Wilson entry in the Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art
  • The Mystery of the British Landscape Master, The New York Times, 4 June 2010
  • Museo virtuale della città di Tivoli Tivoli - Opere pittoriche su Tivoli
  • W.G. Constable archive