Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson was born to a prosperous and well-connected family in Montgomeryshire, central Wales. He received a thorough classical education and trained as an apprentice in Thomas Wright’s London studio for six years before establishing his own practice in the late 1830s. Wilson quickly achieved success painting the portraits of English aristocrats, and his fame brought him into contact with prominent contemporary British artists including William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough.  In 1750 Wilson departed for Italy in order to reinvigorate his artistic practice; he was already considering switching to landscape painting, and his extended visit encouraged him to make this transition. Wilson returned to London in the late 1750s and, through his own works and those of his pupils, made a lasting  impact on landscape painting in Wales, particularly after his first Welsh painting, Caernarfon Castle, catapulted him to the inner circles of London intellectuals.  He enjoyed royal patronage and recognition as a founding member of the Royal Academy at the height of his career, but experienced a decline in both health and critical esteem in the final decade of his life.