Joseph Wilton | |
|---|---|
 Winton holding a bust of Demosthenes, portrait by Louis-Gabriel Blanchet | |
| Born | 16 July 1722  London |
| Died | 25 November 1803 (aged 81) London |
| Resting place | St. Mary the Virgin Church, Wanstead |
Joseph Wilton RA (16 July 1722 – 25 November 1803) was an English sculptor. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and the academy's third keeper. His works are particularly numerous memorialising the famous Britons in Westminster Abbey.
He was born the son of an ornamental plasterer in the Charing Cross area of London, where his father had sculpted the ceilings of the Foundling Hospital. His father wished that Joseph should become a civil engineer but instead Joseph strongly desired to be a sculptor. [1]
Wilton initially trained under Laurent Delvaux at Nivelles, in present-day Belgium. In 1744 he left Nivelles and went to the Academy in Paris to study under Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. In 1752 he went to Italy with his sculptor friend Louis-François Roubiliac to learn to sculpt in marble, and stayed for seven years, living first in Rome and then in Florence. [2] Whilst in Rome he met and befriended his first patron, William Locke of Norbury, who thereafter accompanied Wilton on his tour of Italy. Like many other artists of the day, he studied antiquities, and made numerous plaster casts and marble copies of classic works – many of these later formed the collection of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond at Richmond House in west London.[ citation needed ] A marble bust of the physician and scholar Antonio Cocchi, carved by Wilton in 1755, his last year in Italy, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Influenced by Wilton's study of antique busts, it was considered by Margaret Whinney to be one of Wilton's most distinguished works. [3]
While in Florence he made the acquaintance of the Florentine painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani. When Wilton and the architect William Chambers returned to England, in August 1755, Cipriani went with them. [4]
Once back in London, Wilton was named co-director of Lennox's Richmond House gallery, and established a workshop. [5] He built up a considerable practice, making busts and monuments, including the memorial to James Wolfe in Westminster Abbey. [2] He made at least two marble busts of Oliver Cromwell, which he showed at the Society of Artists, in 1761 and 1761, basing the likeness on a cast of Cromwell's face. One marble version, and the terracotta model for it, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. [6]
In 1761, he was first commissioned to produce a statue of King George III. Similar commissions followed, including one in 1766 from New York City. This massive statue portrayed the king on horseback in Roman garb, and was cast in lead and gilded before being shipped to America and erected at Bowling Green, near the tip of Manhattan in August 1770. It did not last long, being torn down by patriots in July 1776.
Wilton's other works include many notable busts, monuments (e.g. Stephen Hales' memorial in Westminster Abbey, London) and other carvings including fireplaces and tables.
In 1768, when Wilton was perhaps at the peak of his powers, he was elected a founder member of the Royal Academy. However, that year also saw him inherit his father's fortune and the new wealth diverted him away from sculpture to a life of dissolution.[ citation needed ] In 1786 he was forced to sell most of his possessions and in 1793 he was officially declared bankrupt. In 1790 he was appointed Keeper of the Royal Academy, a post he kept until his death in 1803. [2] He was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Wanstead in east London. [7]
By some accounts, the town of Wilton, New Hampshire is said to have been named after Sir Joseph in 1762.
John Bacon was a British sculptor who worked in the late 18th century. Bacon has been reckoned the founder of the British School of sculpture. He won numerous awards, held the esteem of George III, and examples of his works adorn St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, Christ Church, Oxford, Pembroke College, Oxford, Bath Abbey and Bristol Cathedral.
Edward Hodges Baily was a prolific British sculptor responsible for numerous public monuments, portrait busts, statues and exhibition pieces as well as works in silver. He carved friezes for both the Marble Arch and Buckingham Palace in London. His numerous statues of public figures include that of Horatio Nelson on top of Nelson's Column and Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey on Grey's Monument in Newcastle upon Tyne. Throughout his career Baily was responsible for creating a number of monuments and memorials for British churches and cathedrals, including several in St Paul's Cathedral.
Joseph Nollekens R.A. was a sculptor from London generally considered to be the finest British sculptor of the late 18th century.
Giovanni Battista Cipriani was an Italian painter and engraver, who lived in England from 1755. He is also called Giuseppe Cipriani by some authors. Much of his work consisted of designs for prints, many of which were engraved by his friend Francesco Bartolozzi.
John Flaxman was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several years in Rome, where he produced his first book illustrations. He was a prolific maker of funerary monuments.
Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable works include the statues of King George IV ; King George III (Guildhall), and George Washington. He also executed four monuments to military heroes for St Paul's Cathedral, London. He left the Chantrey Bequest for the purchase of works of art for the nation, which was available from 1878 after the death of his widow.
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the "Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. During his career Boehm maintained a large studio in London and produced a significant volume of public works and private commissions. A speciality of Boehm's was the portrait bust; there are many examples of these in the National Portrait Gallery. He was often commissioned by the Royal Family and members of the aristocracy to make sculptures for their parks and gardens. His works were many, and he exhibited 123 of them at the Royal Academy from 1862 to his death in 1890.
Louis-François Roubiliac was a French sculptor who worked in England. One of the four most prominent sculptors in London working in the rococo style, he was described by Margaret Whinney as "probably the most accomplished sculptor ever to work in England".
Sir Richard Westmacott was a British sculptor.
Matthew Noble was a leading British portrait sculptor. Carver of numerous monumental figures and busts including work, memorializing Victorian era royalty and statesmen, displayed in locations such as Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and Parliament Square, London.
Richard Westmacott (the younger) RA (14 April 1799 – 19 April 1872) – also sometimes described as Richard Westmacott III (to distinguish him from his father and grandfather – both sculptors bearing the same name) – was a prominent English sculptor of the early and mid-19th century.
Prince Hoare was an English sculptor. "Prince" in this instance was a given name, not a royal title.
Sir Henry Cheere, 1st Baronet was an English sculptor and monumental mason. He was the older brother of John Cheere, also a notable sculptor.
Laurent Delvaux was a Flemish sculptor. After a successful international career that brought him to London and Rome, he returned to the Austrian Netherlands where he was a sculptor to the court. Delvaux was a transitional figure between the Baroque and Neo-classicism.
John Bacon (1777–1859), also known as John Bacon the Younger, or Junior, to distinguish him from his equally famous father, was an English sculptor.
Samuel Joseph was a British sculptor, working in the early 19th century.
William Tyler was an English sculptor, landscaper, and architect, and one of the three founding members of the Royal Academy, in 1768. He was Director of the Society of Artists.
Thomas Campbell was a Scottish sculptor in the early 19th century. He has several important public works, most notably a statue of Sarah Siddons in Westminster Abbey. He also has several works in the National Gallery in London. He was heavily patronised by the British aristocracy, as evidenced by his works.
In 1757, the actor David Garrick commissioned the sculptor Louis-François Roubiliac to make a full-size marble statue of William Shakespeare for Garrick's octagonal Temple to Shakespeare, erected near his villa beside the River Thames at Hampton, to the west of London. The sculpture cost 300 guineas and was installed at Garrick's temple in 1758; it remained there until it was bequeathed to the British Museum along with Garrick's books in 1779. The sculpture was transferred to the new British Library in 2005, where it is displayed on a new travertine plinth beside the main staircase in the main entrance hall.
Nicholas Read (c.1733–1787) was an 18th-century English sculptor. He was the only apprentice that Roubiliac ever accepted.
Whinney, Margaret (1971). English Sculpture 1750–1830. London: HMSO.
22 artworks by or after Joseph Wilton at the Art UK site
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |