Sir David Wilkie
Born – Fife, Scotland 1785
Died – at sea off Malta 1841
David Wilkie first studied in Edinburgh. In 1805, he entered the Royal Academy School in London and the following year exhibited Village Politicians at the Academy. This work set his style for the next twenty years, establishing him as a popular genre painter whose narrative paintings were crammed full of lively and often humorous incident. His pictures of Victorian life generally expressed on a moral lesson and were strongly influenced by scenes of peasant life in the Dutch genre paintings of David Tenier and Adriaen van Ostade. The Bride at her Toilet is a typically moralizing domestic scene, contrasting the innocent, virginal figure in white with her huddle of fussing, female attendants. From 1825 Wilkie travelled to Italy and Spain, where his style and subject matter broadened under the influence of Velasquez and Murillo. Back in England, he became a painter to the King in 1830 and was knighted in 1836. He died at sea on his return from a Middle East visit. Turner commemorated him in Peace: Burial at Sea.
Masterpieces:
- The Blind Fiddler
- The Letter of Introduction
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About sir david wilkie
The Life Of Sir David Wilkie: With His Journals, Tours And Critical Remarks On Works Of Art; And A Selection From His Correspondence V3
Allan Cunningham
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Sir David Wilkie, R. A. [ 1903 ]
William Bayne
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Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the River Tweed: Illustrated by Sir David Wilkie, Sir Edwin Landseer and Others [1885]
William Scrope
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