Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/494

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WILKINS, William, R.A., architect. He was born August 31st, 1778, at Nor- wich, where his father was successful as a builder, and was educated at the Free Grammar School there. On the removal of his father to Cambridge, he matriculated at Gonville and Caius College, in 1796, and graduated as Sixth Wrangler in 1800, and next year, gaining a travelling fellow- ship, he visited Italy and Greece, and cul- tivated a taste and knowledge of their architecture. On his return, his connexion with the University led to his appointment as architect of Downing College, and his employment on several of the University buildings. In 1808 he erected the Nelson Column at Dublin, and in 1817 a memorial column to the same hero at Yarmouth, and was rising to acknowledged reputation as an architect. In 1820 he appears as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy, sending, in that year a design for the new buildings, Cambridge, comprising the additions to King's College and the Fitzwilliam Museum, and m 1823, an elevation of the quadrangle for Corpus Christi. In 1825 he was elected an associate, and in 1826 a full member, of the Academy, and in the latter year he was associated with Gandy Deering hi building the University Club in Pall Mall East, and in connexion with him he de- signed and exhibited at the Academy a design for a commemoration Waterloo Tower 280 feet high.

He excelled in the purity and harmony of his Grecian designs, and in 1828 he was employed to erect the University College in Gower Street. He only completed the centre, the wings remaining unfinished; but his portico, the main feature of his de- sign, was greatly admired for its classic taste. His next important work was the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, com- pleted in 1838. In this he had to contend with more than one difficulty. He had to introduce the portico from Carlton House, and was cramped by an alteration in the allotted space and by conditions imposed by the Government; and this work has not ceased to be the subject of hostile criti- cism. He afterwards rebuilt St. George's Hospital, and again had to contend with alterations imposed by the assertion of neighbouring rights. He was appointed architect to the East India Company, and built in the Grecian style the Company's college at Haileybury ; and commenced in the same style Downing College, Cam- bridge, which he did not live to complete.

He was an unsuccessful competitor in 1836 in the designs for the Houses of Par- liament; and afterwards, in a pamphlet, 'An Apology for the Design of the New Houses of Parliament/ marked 'Phil- Archimedes/ severely criticised the deci- sion of the Commissioners and the designs

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of his competitors. He was an accom- plished scholar, and had early in his career published his 'Magna Gracia,' and was known as a writer on subjects connected with his profession. He published his and in 1816, ' Atheniensia, or Remarks on the Buildings and Antiquities of Athens.' In 1831, a letter to the Prime Minister, on 'The Patronage of the Arts by the Government ; ' in 1837, the first, and only part, of his 'Prolusiones Architectonicae.' The same year he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Academy, but he never delivered any lectures. He had suffered for some time from gout, and died at Cambridge on August 31, 1839, on the 61st anniversary of nis birth. He was buried in the chapel of Corpus Christi College, which he had erected.
 * Civil Architecture of Vitruvius' in 1813,

WILKINSON, The Rev. Joseph, amateur. Forty-eight landscape views by him in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, were published by Ackermann, in 1810. His drawings were very weak and unfinished.

WILKINSON,, engraver. Prac- tised in London towards the end of the 18th century. He engraved chiefly portraits, but the ' Loss of the Halsewell, East India- man,' after Northcote, has been powerfully scraped by him in mezzo-tint

WILLES, William, landscape painter. He was born at Cork, of a respectable family, and, early devoted to study, was a man of many attainments. He painted landscapes, introducing figures, and was from 1820 an exhibitor at the Royal Aca- demy. In 1824 he sent * A Serenade ; ' in 1826, ' A River Scene, a View of London/ introducing groups of figures ; in 1829, ' A Midsummer Night's Dream/ and land- scape views of Killaraey. About 1830 he came to reside in London, and in 1857, when he exhibited for the last time, ' Ex- celsior/ he was at Reading. 'The Mock Funeral' is spoken of as one of his best works.

WILLIAMS, Edward, engraver. Practised in London in the last half of the 18th century. There are several groups by him after Rowlandson, and a plate after Wigstead. He was one of Hogarth's boon companions.

WILLIAMS, Edward, landscape painter. Son of the above. Was born in Lambeth in 1782, and was the pupil of his maternal uncle, James Ward, R.A., and was afterwards apprenticed to a carver and gilder ; but meeting with some success in his attempts in miniature and landscape painting, he turned to the latter, and was successful in moonlight scenes, his favourite subjects, and in 1814 and 1816 exhibited at the Royal Academy. Later in life he painted the scenery of the Thames. There

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