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WILKIE, SIR DAVID (1785–1841)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 645 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILKIE, See also:SIR See also:DAVID (1785–1841) , Scottish painter, was See also:born on the 18th of See also:November 1785, the son of the See also:parish See also:minister of Cults in Fifeshire. He very See also:early See also:developed an extraordinary love for See also:art. In 1799, after he had attended school at Pitlessie, See also:Kettle And See also:Cupar, his See also:father reluctantly yielded to his See also:desire to become a painter; and through the See also:influence of the See also:earl of See also:Leven Wilkie was admitted to the Trustees' See also:Academy in See also:Edinburgh, and began the study of art under See also:John See also:Graham, the teacher of the school. From See also:William See also:Allan (afterwards Sir William Allan and See also:president of the Royal Scottish Academy) and John See also:Burnet, the engraver of Wilkie's See also:works, we have an interesting See also:account of his early studies, of his indomitable perseverance and See also:power of See also:close application, of his See also:habit of haunting fairs and See also:market-places, and transferring to his See also:sketch-See also:book all that struck him as characteristic and telling in figure or incident, and of his admiration for the works of Carse and David Allan, two Scottish painters of scenes from humble See also:life. Among his pictures of this See also:period are mentioned a subject from See also:Macbeth, " See also:Ceres in See also:Search of See also:Proserpine," and " See also:Diana and Calisto," which in 1803 gained a See also:premium of ten guineas at the Trustees' Academy, while his See also:pencil portraits of himself and his See also:mother, dated that See also:year, and now in the See also:possession of the See also:duke of See also:Buccleuch, prove that he had already attained considerable certainty of See also:touch and power of rendering See also:character. A See also:scene from Allan See also:Ramsay, and a sketch from See also:Macneill's ballad of See also:Scotland's Skaith, afterwards developed into the well-known " See also:Village Politicians," were the first subjects in which his true See also:artistic individuality began to assert itself. In 1804 Wilkie returned to Cults, established himself in the See also:manse, and began his first important subject-picture, " Pitlessie See also:Fair," which includes about 140 figures, and in which he introduced portraits of his neighbours and of several members of his See also:family circle. In addition to this elaborate figure-piece, Wilkie was much employed at the See also:time upon portraits, both at See also:home and in See also:Kinghorn, St See also:Andrews and See also:Aberdeen. In the See also:spring of 1805 he See also:left Scotland for See also:London, carrying with him his " See also:Bounty-See also:Money, or the Village Recruit," which he soon disposed of for 6, and began to study in the See also:schools of the Royal Academy. One of his first patrons in London was Stodart, a See also:pianoforte maker, a distant connexion of the Wilkie family, who commissioned his portrait and other works and introduced the See also:young artist to the See also:dowager-countess of See also:Mansfield. This See also:lady's son was the purchaser of the " Village Politicians," which attracted See also:great See also:attention when it was exhibited in the Royal Academy of 1806, where it was followed in the succeeding year by the " See also:Blind Fiddler," a See also:commission from the painter's lifelong friend Sir See also:George See also:Beaumont. Wilkie now turned aside into the paths of See also:historical art, and painted his " See also:Alfred in the Neatherd's Cottage," for the See also:gallery illustrative of See also:English See also:history which was being formed by See also:Alexander See also:Davison.

After its completion he returned to genre-See also:

painting, producing the " Card-Players " and the admirable picture of the " See also:Rent See also:Day," which was composed during recovery from a See also:fever contracted in 1807 while on a visit to his native village. His next great See also:work was the " See also:Ale-See also:House See also:Door," afterwards entitled the " Village Festival " (now in the See also:National Gallery), which was See also:purchased by J J. See also:Angerstein for Boo guineas. It was followed in 1813 by the well-known " Blind See also:Man's See also:Buff," a commission from .the See also:prince See also:regent, to which a See also:companion picture, the " See also:Penny See also:Wedding," was added in 1818. Meanwhile Wilkie's eminent success in art had been rewarded by professional honours. In November 1809 he was elected an See also:associate of the Royal Academy, when he had hardly attained the See also:age prescribed by its See also:laws, and in See also:February 1811 he became a full academician. In 1812 he opened an See also:exhibition of his collected works in See also:Pall Mall, but the experiment was unsuccessful, entailing pecuniary loss upon the artist. In 1814 he executed the " See also:Letter of Introduction," one of the most delicately finished and perfect of his See also:cabinet pictures. In the same year he made his first visit to the See also:continent, and at See also:Paris entered upon a profitable and delighted study of the works of art collected in the Louvre. Interesting particulars of the time are preserved in his own See also:matter-of-fact See also:diary, and in the more sprightly and flowing pages of the See also:journal of See also:Haydon, his See also:fellow-traveller. On his return he began " Distraining for Rent," one of the most popular and dramatic of his works. In 1816 he made a tour through See also:Holland and See also:Belgium in See also:company with See also:Raimbach, the engraver of many of his paintings.

The " Sir See also:

Walter See also:Scott and his Family," a cabinet-sized picture with small full-length figures in the See also:dress of Scottish peasants, was the result of a visit to See also:Abbotsford in 1818. " See also:Reading a Will," a commission from the See also:king of See also:Bavaria, now in the New Pinakothek at See also:Munich, was completed in 1820; and two years later the great picture of " See also:Chelsea Pensioners Reading the See also:Gazette of the See also:Battle of See also:Waterloo," commissioned by the duke of See also:Wellington in 1816, at a cost of 1200 guineas, was exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1822 Wilkie visited Edinburgh, in See also:order to select from the royal progress of George IV. a fitting subject for a picture. The " Reception of the King at the Entrance of Holyrood See also:Palace " was the incident ultimately chosen; and in the following year, when the artist, upon the See also:death of See also:Rae-See also:bean, had been appointed royal limner for Scotland, he received sittings from the monarch, and began to work diligently upon the subject. But several years elapsed before its completion; for, like all such ceremonial works, it proved a harassing commission, uncongenial to the painter while in progress and unsatisfactory when finished. His See also:health suffered from the See also:strain to which he was subjected, and his See also:condition was aggravated by heavy domestic trials and responsibilities. In 1825 he sought See also:relief in See also:foreign travel: after visiting Paris, he passed into See also:Italy, where, at See also:Rome, he received the See also:news of fresh disasters through the failure of his publishers. A See also:residence at Toplitz and See also:Carlsbad was tried in 1826, with little See also:good result, and then Wilkie re-turned to Italy, to See also:Venice and See also:Florence. The summer of 1827 was spent in See also:Geneva, where he had sufficiently recovered to paint his " Princess See also:Doria Washing the Pilgrims' Feet," a work which, like several small pictures executed at Rome, was strongly influenced by the See also:Italian art by which the painter had been surrounded. In See also:October he passed into See also:Spain, whence he returned to See also:England in See also:June 1828. It is impossible to over-estimate the influence upon Wilkie's art of these three years of foreign travel. It amounts to nothing See also:short of a See also:complete See also:change of See also:style.

Up to the period of his leaving England he had been mainly influenced by the Dutch genre-painters, whose technique he had carefully studied, whose works he frequently kept beside him in his studio for reference as he painted, and whose method he applied to the rendering of those scenes of English and Scottish life of which he was so close and faithful an observer. See also:

Teniers, in particular, appears to have been his See also:chief See also:master; and in his earlier productions we find the See also:sharp, precise, spirited touch, the rather subdued colouring, and the clear, silvery See also:grey See also:tone which distinguish this master; while in his subjects of a slightly later period—those, such as the " Chelsea Pensioners," the" Highland See also:Whisky Still " and the " See also:Rabbit on the See also:Wall," executed in what Burnet styles his second manner, which, however, may be regarded as only the development and maturity of his first—he begins to unite to the qualities of Teniers that greater richness and fulness of effect which are characteristic of See also:Ostade. But now he experienced the spell of the Italian masters, and of See also:Velazquez and the great Spaniards. In the works which Wilkie produced in his final period he exchanged the detailed handling, the delicate finish and the reticent hues of his earlier works for a style distinguished by breadth of touch, largeness of effect, richness of tone and full force of melting and powerful See also:colour. His subjects, too, were no longer the homely things of the genre-painter: with his broader method he attempted the portrayal of scenes from history, suggested for the most See also:part by the associations of his foreign travel. His change of style and change of subject were severely criticized at the time; to some extent he lost his hold upon the public, who regretted the See also:familiar subjects and the See also:interest and pathos of his earlier productions, and were less ready to follow him into the historic scenes towards which this final phase of his art sought to See also:lead them. The popular See also:verdict had in it a basis of truth: Wilkie was indeed greatest as a genre-painter. But on technical grounds his change of style was criticized with undue severity. While his later works are admittedly more frequently faulty in See also:form and draughtsmanshipthan those of his earlier period, some of them at least (the " See also:Bride's See also:Toilet," 1837, for instance) show a true gain and development in power of handling, and in mastery over complex and forcible colour harmonies. Most of Wilkie's foreign subjects—the " Pifferari," " Princess Doria," the " Maid of See also:Saragossa," the " See also:Spanish Podado," a " Guerilla See also:Council of See also:War," the " Guerilla Taking Leave of his Family " and the " Guerilla's Return to his Family "—passed into the English royal collection; but the dramatic " Two Spanish Monks of See also:Toledo," also entitled the " See also:Confessor Confessing," became the See also:property of the See also:marquis of See also:Lansdowne. On his return to England Wilkie completed the " Reception of the King at the Entrance of Holyrood Palace,"—a curious example of a See also:union of his earlier and later styles, a " mixture " which was very justly pronounced by Haydon to be " like oil and See also:water." His " See also:Preaching of John See also:Knox before the Lords of the See also:Congregation " had also been begun before he left for abroad; but it was painted throughout in the later style, and consequently presents a more satisfactory unity and See also:harmony of treatment and handling. It was one of the most successful pictures of the artist's later period.

In the beginning of 183o Wilkie was appointed to succeed Sir T. See also:

Lawrence as painter in See also:ordinary to the king, and in 1836 he received the See also:honour of See also:knighthood. The See also:main figure-pictures which occupied him until the end were " See also:Columbus in the See also:Convent at La Rabida " (1835); " See also:Napoleon and See also:Pius VII. at See also:Fontainebleau " (1836); " Sir David See also:Baird Discovering the See also:Body of Tippoo See also:Sahib " (1838); the " Empress See also:Josephine and the See also:Fortune-See also:Teller " (1838); and " See also:Queen See also:Victoria Presiding at her First Council " (1838). His time was also much occupied with See also:portraiture, many of his works of this class being royal commissions. His portraits are pictorial and excellent in See also:general See also:distribution, but the faces are frequently wanting in See also:drawing and character. He seldom succeeded in- showing his sitters at their best, and his See also:female portraits, in particular, rarely gave See also:satisfaction. A favourable example of his cabinet-sized portraits is that of Sir See also:Robert See also:Liston; his likeness of W. Esdaile is an admirable three-See also:quarter length; and one of his finest full-lengths is the gallery portrait of See also:Lord Kellie, in the See also:town See also:hall of Cupar. In the autumn of 184o Wilkie resolved on a voyage to the See also:East. Passing through Holland and See also:Germany, he reached See also:Constantinople, where, while detained by the war in See also:Syria, he painted a portrait of the young See also:sultan. He then sailed for See also:Smyrna and travelled to See also:Jerusalem, where he remained for some five busy See also:weeks. The last work of all upon which he was en-gaged was a portrait of Mehernet See also:Ali, done at See also:Alexandria.

On his return voyage he suffered from an attack of illness at See also:

Malta, and died at See also:sea off See also:Gibraltar on the See also:morning of the 1st of June 1841. His body was consigned to the deep in the See also:Bay of Gibraltar. An elaborate Life of Sir David Wilkie, by Allan See also:Cunningham, containing the painter's See also:journals and his observant and well-considered " See also:Critical Remarks on Works of Art," was published in 1843. See also:Redgrave's See also:Century of Painters of the English School and John Burnet's See also:Practical Essays on the See also:Fine Arts may also be referred to for a critical estimate of his works. A See also:list of the exceptionally numerous and excellent engravings from his pictures will he found in the Art Union Journal for See also:January 1840. Apart from his skill as a painter Wilkie was an admirable etcher. The best of his plates, such as the " See also:Gentleman at his See also:Desk " (See also:Laing, VII.), the " See also:Pope examining a Censer " (Laing, VIII.), and the " Seat of Hands " (Laing, IV.), are worthy to See also:rank with the work of the greatest figure-etchers. During his lifetime he issued a See also:portfolio of seven plates, and in 1875 Dr David Laing catalogued and published the complete See also:series of his etchings and dry-points, supplying the See also:place of a few See also:copper-plates that had been lost by reproductions, in his Etchings of David Wilkie and See also:Andrew See also:Geddes. (J. M.

End of Article: WILKIE, SIR DAVID (1785–1841)

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