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Sir David Wilkie

1785-1841 Scotland/Romanticism

 

Brief Biography-Sir David Wilkie was born in Cults, Fifeshire, in 1789. He studied in Edinburgh before entering the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1805. His painting The Village Politician caused a sensation and assured his success. Adriaen Jansz van Ostade and David Teniers the Younger influenced his works, and his paintings sold at astronomical prices. In 1809 the Academy elected him an Associate, and in 1811 he was a full Academician. He visited Paris in 1814 with Benjamin Robert Haydon and shortly after went to Holland to view the masters’ works there. On his return, he got arrested while sketching the Calais Gate, as was William Hogarth, when suspected of being a spy. He made many trips to Scotland before his health failed, and he went on an extensive journey around Europe, becoming swayed by the styles of Spanish masters. When Sir Thomas Lawrence died in 1830, he became Painter in Ordinary to the King and became knighted in 1836. However, his contemporaries were not too pleased with his style change after returning from Europe, and the Academy failed to elect him as president. He went on a tour of the East in 1840 and painted the Sultan in Constantinople, and on his way back by sea, he died suddenly. He received a burial at sea off Gibraltar, which Joseph Mallord Turner memorialised in his painting Peace, Burial at Sea.

 

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chelsea pensioners
receiving-

chelsea pensioners receiving the gazette announcing the battle of waterloo

sultan abdulmecid
the first-Emperor

sultan abdulmecid the first-emperor of the ottoman empire

chelsea pensioners
reading waterloo

the chelsea pensioners reading the waterloo dispatch

the letter of
introduction

the letter of introduction

the
pedlar

the pedlar

distraining
for rent

distraining for rent

reading
the will

reading the will

pitlessie
fair

pitlessie fair

the entrance of
george the fourth

the entrance of george the fourth at the palace of holyrood house

the penny
wedding

the penny wedding

the first council
of queen victoria

the first council of queen victoria

billy waters mariner
street performer

billy waters mariner street performer and beggar

abraham
raimbach

abraham raimbach

blind
man's buff

blind man s buff

boys digging
for rats

boys digging for rats

george
the fourth

george the fourth

his highness
muhemed ali pacha

his highness muhemed ali pacha of egypt

josephine and the
fortune teller

josephine and the fortune teller

king william
the fourth

king william the fourth

the defence
of saragossa

the defence of saragossa


newsmongers

newsmongers

queen
victoria

queen victoria

self
portrait

self portrait

a self-
portrait

a self-portrait

sultan
mohemmed ali

sultan mohemmed ali

the blind
fiddler

the blind fiddler

the first
earring

the first earring

the
refusal

the refusal from burns s song of duncan gray

the spanish
girl

the spanish girl

the village
holiday

the village holiday

unknown
man

unknown man