Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/499

 WIL

WIL

In 1753 he was living in the Piazzas, Covent Garden; he had now changed his art; he was a landscape painter. It is re- lated that his return excited some interest among his brother artists, but that his art was unappreciated either by them or by the public; the artists indeed advised him that his manner was not suited to the English taste, and the critics, to whom it was new, did not understand and depreciated it, while they lauded the meretricious pro- ductions of his contemporaries. Thoinas Sandby, R.A., who had favour at Court, with better judgment recommended him to the Duke of Cumberland, for whom he painted the * Niobe,' one of his great works, which he exhibited in the Adeluhi with the Society of Artists, of which he was a member, in 1760. It is said, however, that he lost the Court patronage. Having after- wards painted a landscape of Sion House for the King, Lord Bute, Dy whom it was'to have been submitted, remarking that sixty guineas, the price he named, was too high, he angrily replied that if the King could not pay that sum at once, he would take it by instalments, and thus cut short his hope of Royal favour. This unfortunate explo- sion of temper, if a fact, did not stand in his way upon the foundation of the Royal Academy oy the King, in 1768, for he was then nominated one of the first members, and was a constant contributor to the exhi- bitions up to 1780. In 1770 he sent ' Cicero and his Two Friends at his Villa at Arpi- nium;, in 1771, 'Wynnstay' and 'Crow Castle,' two large landscapes painted for Sir W. W. Wynn; in 1774, ' Cader Idris,' ' The Cataract of Niagara/ and others; in 1775, 'The Passage of the Alps at Mont Cenis/ and ' The Lake of Nemi; ' in 1776, 1 Sion House;' in 1778, ' View in Windsor Great Park; 5 in 1779, 'Apollo and the Seasons/ and ' View of St. James's Park;' in 1780. when he exhibited for the last time, ' Tabley Park. ' He repeated many of his favourite works, some of them several times

But only a few of these fine pictures found purchasers, even the dealers declar- ing that those they bought remained on their hands, and from time to time, descend- ing in the scale, he changed his abode to suit his diminished means. His temper, naturally quick, was embittered by his trials. He lived in a poor lodging in Tottenham Court Road, wanting employ- ment, and one day, in tone of indignant despair, asked Barry, R.A., if he Knew any one mad enough to employ a landscape painter, to whom he could recommend him, as he had literally nothing to do. He was no less a man of high spirit and gentle- manly feeling, of classic tastes, an elegant scholar, and when not suffering from a mor- bid depression of spirits, for which there 478

were only too many sad causes, he was of courteous address and brilliant in his con- versation. He also possessed great know- ledge and critical judgment of art Yet while neglected by fortune, he did not give up the struggle, and continued to paint, thinking himself happy to obtain even the mean sum of 15 guineas for a three-quar- ters landscape. So he managed to live till, in his declining powers, he became, on a vacancy in 1776, the Librarian to the Royal Academy, and the small salary attached to that office, for which he was well fitted, greatly increased his narrow means. It is pleasant to add that he unexpectedly became possessed of a small property near Llanbens on the death of his brother, and that retiring there he passed a short time in comfort and peace, and then died sud- denly, in May 1782. He was buried on the 15th of that month in the churchyard of St. Mary-at-Moid.

His art possesses some of the highest qualities in the reach of the landscape painter. Purely classic and noble in his conceptions, he gave a new aim to the English school. Strong in his impressions of Nature's truths, vigorously and power- fully painted, grandly poetic in tone and colour, vet broadly and simply treated, his works will secure him an imperishable name in the English school. Peter Pindar, who spared him in his caustic criticism, truly prophesied — 'But, honest Wilson, never mind, immortal praises thou shalt find.' Yet the poet deferred the realisation until the painter had been dead one hundred years. Did he find any compensation during years of neglect and suffering in the con- fident hope we learn he entertained, that posterity would do him justice?

An exhibition of the works of deceased British artists, at the British Institution, in 1814, included 85 of his works." Our National Gallery possesses two fine ex- amples of his art, and he has been made widely known by engraving, and is for- tunate in the engravers employed on his works, among whom Woollett, William Sharp, Byrne, Canot, Rooker, Earlom, and Middiman, are distinguished. He made many studies, which are in the hands of collectors, executed in black and white on a grey Roman paper. His life, by Wright, was published m 1824; and Cunningham, falling upon that work for his chief facts, has written a memoir of him in his ' British Painters.'

WILSON, William Charles, en- graver. Born about 1750. There are many early plates by him in mezzo-tint He was employed by Boydell upon his Shakespeare Gallery, and engraved after Smirke, WestaU, West, RR.A.,and Pille- ment.

WILSON, Sir William, architect. He