TVILKIE, SIR DAVID. 



WILKIE, SIR DAVID. 



700 



November 1785. He was the third son of David Wilkie, minister oi 

 Cults, and Isabella Lister, his third wife. Wilkie displayed what may 

 be termed an innate love for drawing when quite a child : he has been 

 heard to say that he could draw before he could read, and paint before 

 he could spell. It became at length evident to his father that young 

 David would turn his attention to nothiug but painting, and eventually 

 he consented to allow him to follow his own inclination. He was 

 accordingly f-ent, in 1799, to the Trustees' Academy of Edinburgh 

 John Graham was master of the academy at this time, and Sir William 

 Allan and John Buruet were Wilkie's fellow-scholars. The progress 

 Wilkie made at this time, Fays Sir William Allan, " was marvellous. 

 Everything he attempted indicated a knowledge far beyond his years ; 

 and he soon took up that position in art which he maintained to the 

 last. He was always on the look-out for character : he frequented 

 tryotef, fairs, and market-places." 



In 1803 he won the ten-guinea premmm that was awarded in that 

 year, for the best painting of ' Callisto in the bath of Diana.' In the 

 same year he made the sketch of his picture of the ' Village Politicians.' 

 In 1804, iu his nineteenth year, he left the academy and returned 

 home. At home he painted in the same year, for Kinnear of Kinlocb, 

 his picture of ' Pitlessie Fair,' in which he inserted about 140 figures, 

 mostly portraits, many of which he sketched while at church, as he 

 had no other way of procuring them. For this picture he received 

 only 251. He painted likewise at this time many portraits in small 

 and in miniature, and the picture called the ' Village Recruit,' which 

 he took with him to London soon after it was finished, and exposed 

 for sale in a shop-window at Charing-cross, and at the low price it was 

 marked, 61., it soon found a purchaser. After he had found a lodging 

 in No. 8, Norton-street, Wilkie lost no time in obtaining admission as 

 a student at the Royal Academy. The young painter's first patron in 

 London was Stodart, the pianoforte-maker, who happened to be 

 married to a Wilkie, and had a taste for painting as well as music. 

 He sat to Wilkie for his portrait, ordered him to paint two pictures for 

 him, introduced him to a valuable connection, and procured him several 

 sitters. The Earl of Mansfield, to whom Wilkie had been introduced 

 by Stodart, commissioned him to paint a picture from his sketch of the 

 ' Village Politicians,' for which Wilkie demanded fifteen guineas ; but 

 the earl merely said, " Consult your friends about the price." When 

 however the picture was finished and exhibited in the Royal Academy 

 in 1806, it excited such universal admiration, that Wilkie was advised 

 not to sell it for less than 30 guineas. The painter accordingly 

 demanded 30 guineas of the earl, who paid the mo^y, but first dis- 

 puted his right to make any such demand. Wilkie pleaded the earl's 

 advice, " consult your friends," in justification of his proceeding. He 

 had been offered from two other parties 100. for the picture. 



From this time commissions were abundant, and instead of returning 

 to Scotland, as he had intended, he found it necessary to establish 

 himself in London. He received commissions from Mr. Whitbread, 

 Lord Mulgrave, and Sir George Beaumont, who until his death proved 

 a most sincere and valuable friend to Wilkie. The picture of the 

 ' Village Politicians ' was painted from the "ale caup commentators," 

 in the ballad of ' Will and Jean,' by Macneil. As. the production of a 

 living artist, it was a thing quite new to the English painters of that 

 time, and various comments were made upon it by the academicians. 

 Northcote termed it the "pauper style;" and Fuseli, when he met 

 Wilkie, after he had seen it, said, " Young man, that is a dangerous 

 work. That picture will either prove the most happy or the most 

 unfortunate work of your life.' 1 It apparently proved to be the most 

 fortunate ; and although Wilkie was only twenty-one when he painted 

 it, as a painting he never surpassed it afterwards, though in subject he 

 produced several happier pictures. His next works were, the ' Blind 

 Fiddler,' for Sir George Beaumont; 'Alfred in the Neatherd's Cottage,' 

 for Mr. Davidson ; the ' Card-Players,' for the Duke of Gloucester ; 

 and the ' Rent-Day,' for the Earl of Mulgrave : painted in 1807 and 



1808. He then painted the 'Sick Lady,' the ' Jew's-Harp/ and the 

 'Cut Finger.' After these, the sketch of the 'Reading of the Will,' 

 the ' Wardrobe Ransacked,' the ' Game-Keeper,' and the ' Ale-House 

 Door,' afterwards called the ' Village Festival,' painted for Mr. Anger- 

 stein for 800 guineas, and now iu the National Gallery : all painted iu 



1809, 1810, and 1811. In 1809 he was elected an Associate of the 

 Royal Academy, and a member in 1811. 



Wilkie was naturally of a weak constitution, and his incessant appli- 

 cation to his profession rendered necessary at this time a suspension 

 of all exertion ; and this, together with the declining state of his 

 father's health, induced him to pay a visit to his native place, where 

 he arrived in August 1811. In October of the same year he returned 

 to his easel in some new apartments at Kensington, as being the most 

 healthy part of the metropolis. 



On the 1st of May 1812 he opened an exhibition at 87, Pall Mall, of 

 all his pictures, twenty-nine in number, including sketches (so-ne of 

 which however were painted after the pictures), from which he 

 expected to derive considerable profit ; but although it extended his 

 reputation, it appears to have been a very unprofitable expedient 

 The expense of the exhibition amounted to 414Z. In December of 

 this year he lost his father, and he invited his mother and sister to 

 come to live with him in London, where he took a commodious house 

 in Kensington, 24, Lower Phillimore Place, to receive them in. In 

 1813 he exhibited his picture of 'Blindman's Buff/ which he painted 



for the Prince Regent. The prices Wilkie now received were very 

 different from those which he had for his early pictures. For the 

 'Letter of Introduction,' and the 'Refusal/ or 'Duncan Gray/ both 

 small pictures, painted in 1813, he received respectively 250 and 330 

 guineas, yet he was not making 6001. a-year. He returned his income 

 in 1813 for the income-tax, according to the average of three years, 

 and making the necessary reduction for his house, at 500Z. 



In 1814 he went with his friend Mr. Haydon to Paris, and carefully 

 studied the pictures which Napoleon I. had collected in the Louvre 

 the spoils of the churches and galleries of the Continent. In 1814 

 and 1815 he painted ' Distraining for Rent/ the ' Pedlar/ and the 

 'Rabbit on the Wall.' The proprietors of the British Institution pur- 

 chased the first for 600 guineas. In the summer of 1816 he went 

 with Raimbach, the engraver, to Holland and Belgium. In 1816 he 

 painted the 'Breakfast' for the Marquis of Stafford. In 1817 he 

 painted his only landscape, a piece called 'Sheep- Washing.' For the 

 ' Breakfast' the Marquis of Stafford paid him 400J. In 1817 also he 

 commenced a picture for the Duke of W.-llington, the ' Chelsea Pen- 

 sioners/ and another, the 'Penny Wedding/ for the Prince Regent. 

 Iii the same year he paid a visit to Scotland and Sir Walter (then Mr.) 

 Scott, of whom and family he painted an interesting picture ; he also 

 made at this time a sketch for his picture of the ' Whiskey Still.' 

 After his return to London the authorities of Cupar sent him the 

 freedom of the burgh. In 1818 he painted the ' Errand-Boy/ ' China- 

 Menders/ ' Death of Sir Philip Sidney/ all small pieces, and finished 

 the 'Penny Wedding' and the 'Whiskey-Still.' For the 'Wedding' 

 he received 545, including frame. In 1819 he commenced the 

 'Reading of the Will/ for the King of Bavaria, which he finished 

 in the following year, and was paid 447J. 10s. for it. In 1821 

 ,he painted his 'Chelsea Pensioners,' which was exhibited in 1822. 

 This picture, painted for the Duke of Wellington for 1200 guineas, 

 is certainly Wilkie's master-piece ; it is of its class the finest work 

 that has been painted in England, and gives Wilkie rank among the 

 most celebrated masters of the Dutch school. The colouring is sober 

 and true, the drawing good, and the character, composition, and exe- 

 cution exquisite : almost its only bad point is the head and figure 

 of the female to the right ; but Wilkie seldom introduced females 

 into his earlier pictures, and when he did he generally failed. The 

 subject of this picture is a veteran reading to some Chelsea pen- 

 sioners the Gazette of the battle of Waterloo, which had been just 

 brought by an orderly of the Marquis of Anglesey's lancers. 



We have now traced Wilkie's progress, with a few exceptions, from 

 the first to the la^t of those pictures upon which his future fame will 

 resi the ' Village Politicians/ and the ' Chelsea Pensioners.' After 

 the last-named picture he produced many excellent works, but it is 

 generally allowed that he did not add anything to his reputation. His 

 later works were certainly not sufficient even to uphold the reputation 

 which Wilkie had acquired. He not only changed his subjects, but 

 he changed his style of execution also. In his own peculiar style he 

 was without a rival ; in the style which he at this time adopted he 

 had many superiors. One of the worst and earliest of these new pro- 

 ductions was the ''Entrance of George IV. into Holyrood/ a picture 

 confusedly composed, flat and ill-executed, and ill-drawn. At the 

 death of Sir Henry Raeburn, in 1823, Wilkie was appointed limner to 

 the king in Scotland. In 1824 he lost his mother and one of his 

 brothers, and he suffered himself so much from ill-health that he 

 determined upon a protracted visit to the Continent. He set out with 

 a friend and cousin in the summer of 1825 for Paris, from whence to 

 Switzerland and Italy. In Italy Wilkie remained eight months. He 

 then visited Munich, Dresden, Toplitz, Carlsbad, Prague, and Vienna, 

 and returned for another season to Italy. At Rome, on his second 

 visit, a public dinner was given to him by the Scotch artists and 

 amateurs, at which the Duke of Hamilton presided. During his 

 second visit to Italy his health began to revive, and he painted three 

 pictures at Rome. From Italy he went through the south of France, 

 entered Spain in October 1827, and travelled to Madrid. In Madrid 

 he painted a picture of a Spanish Council of War, and two other 

 Spanish subjects, one of which was the 'Defence of Saragosea.' in 

 which he inserted the portrait of General Palafox, the defender of the 

 place. In the summer he left Spain, and reached Paris in June 1828, 

 and returned to England in the same month, after an absence of three 

 years. In the exhibition of ] 829 he had eight pictures, four Italian, 

 three Spanish, and a portrait of the Earl of Kellie. The three 

 Spanish and two of the Italian were purchased by George IV. In the 

 same year he painted a portrait of tbe king in a Scotch dress. Some 

 of these pictures were much admired by his friends, but far less by 

 the public. The principal characteristics are effect of colour and light 

 and shade, which, with breadth and facility, he appears to have now 

 considered the proper objects of high art, and an advance beyond the 

 truth, simplicity, and character of his earlier works. Of this new 

 style, in a letter from Spain he speaks as follows : " I have now, 

 from the study of the old masters, adopted a bolder and, I think, more 

 effective style, and one result is rapidity." In other letters he speaks 

 of his imitation of Rembrandt, Correggio, and Velasquez. These 

 pictures seem to be perishing almost as rapidly as they were painted; 

 whilst many of his earlier works are in excellent preservation, many 

 of these are mere wrecks. After the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, 

 in 1830, Wilkie was appointed in his place painter in ordinary to his 



