Richard Wilson

 Art.  There is a connection with Richard Wilson., the artist and Swansea, but first we must look at the foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts.

The Mad King, George III, signed the instrument of the foundation on the 10th December 1768, and named 34 foundering members, and allowed the total membership to be 40.  So, who were these founding members? 

Joshua Reynolds (President), George Barret, Francesco Bartolozzi, Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Augustino Carlini, Charles Caton, Mason Chamberlain, William Chambers, Francis Coates, George Dance, Nathaniel Dance, Thomas Gainsborough, John Gwynn, Francis Neyman, Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Angelica Kauffman, Jeremiah Meyer, George Michael Moser, Mary Moser, Francis Milner Newton (Secretary),  Edward Penny, John Inigo Richards, Paul Sandby, Thomas Sandby, Dominic Serres, Peter Toms, William Tyler, Samuel Wale, Benjamin West, Richard Wilson, Joseph Wilton, Richard Yeo, Francesco Zuccarelli.  Added to the list the following year, were William Hoare and Johann Zoffany.

Royal Academy, Pall Mall
Attributed to
Edmund Evans
(1826 - 1905)
Old Somerset House
Thomas Sandby 
(1721 - 1798)
The first location of the Royal Academy was cramped in quarters in Pall Mall, by 1771, it was given temporary accommodation for its library and schools in the Old Somerset House, which at the time was a royal palace.  By 1780, the Academy was installed in a purpose-built apartment of the New Somerset House.  Following this by 1837, it moved to Trafalgar Square, where the Academy occupied the east wing of the recently completed National Gallery. This became too small to house both institutions, by 1868, a century after its foundation, the Academy moved to Burlington House, where it remains today.

A few months after its was established the Academy held its first exhibition during April 1769, of contemporary art, open to all artists.  This exhibition ran on until May of that year.  Shown were 136 works of art. 

Portrait of Richard Wilson
by
Anton Raphael Mengs
(1728 - 1779)
So, what of Richard Wilson?

Born 1714, Penegoes, Montgomeryshire, Wilson, was a Welsh influential landscape painter, who painted around Great Britain and Italy. 

1729, Wilson, first went to London, where be began to be a portrait painter, starting his apprenticeship under the obscure artist, Thomas Wright.  Whilst here, Wilson, was often sited with his acquaintance Giuseppe Baretti, the Italian literary critic, around Marylebone.





Between 1750 and 57, Wilson, resided in Italy, with the advice from Francesco Zuccarelli, became a landscape painter. Wilson won praise, from his painting The Destruction of the Children of Noble (1759-60) (below).  From this he gained many commissions from landowners who were seeking classical portrays of their estates.

The Destruction of the Children of Noble (1759-60)
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut

Richard Wilson tomb
St. Mary church, Mold

Wilson, died 1785 and is buried at St. Mary church, Mold.








Some of Wilson’s works, can be found in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, including. “The White Monk” (1760), bequeathed by Richard Glynn Vivian, 1911; “Lake Averno” (1765), purchased by Alex Martin, 1943; “Solitude” (1762-70), purchased 1971; also bequeathed by Richard Glynn Vivian, 1911, “Landscape with Old Castle” and “River Scene in Italy”.

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