Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter, especially known for his genre scenes. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes, portraits, including formal royal ones, and scenes from his travels to Europe and the Middle East. His main base was in London, but he died and was buried at sea, off Gibraltar, returning from his first trip to the Middle East. He was sometimes known as the "people's painter".
John Frederick Lewis (1804–1876) was an English Orientalist painter. He specialized in Oriental and Mediterranean scenes in detailed watercolour or oils, very often repeating the same composition in a version in each medium. He lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, and after his return to England in 1851 he specialized in highly detailed works showing both realistic genre scenes of Middle Eastern life and more idealized scenes in upper-class Egyptian interiors with little apparent Western influence.
Scottish genre art is the depiction of everyday life in Scotland, or by Scottish artists, emulating the genre art of Netherlands painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Common themes included markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes.
The First Council of Queen Victoria is an 1838 history painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It depicts the first meeting of the Privy Council following the succession of Queen Victoria to the throne following the death of her uncle William IV. It represents the actual meeting that took place in the Red Saloon at Kensington Palace on 20 June 1837, when the eighteen year-old queen met with senior politicians from both the governing Whig Party and the opposition Tories.
Sir David Baird Discovering the Body of Sultan Tipoo Sahib is an 1839 history painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It presents a scene during the Siege of Seringapatam in 1799. General Baird, a senior British officer and accompanying troops encounter the body of the Tipu Sultan. The ruler of Mysore and an ally of France he was killed when Anglo-Indian forces stormed his capital Seringapatam.
Newsmongers is an 1821 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It portrays a group gathered around a man and woman holding up a newspaper. The group includes a baker carrying a pie and roast joint. The news being read is not specified, but its been speculated that might be news of the Napoleonic Wars or the more recent Trial of Queen Caroline.
The Penny Wedding is an 1818 genre painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a traditional penny wedding in which the guests each paid a penny towards the cost.
The Dying Contrabandista is an 1858 genre painting by the British artist John Phillip. Formerly a member of The Clique artistic group, later in his career Phillip concentrated on scenes of Spanish life and was a favourite painter of Queen Victoria.
The Parish Beadle is an 1823 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It depicts a comically overzealous parish beadle taking a troupe of travelling Savoyard entertainers into custody for vagrancy. They have evidently been performing at the fair seen in the distance which has some echoes of William Hogarth's Southwark Fair.
The Village of Waterloo is an 1821 history painting by the English artist George Jones. It has the longer subtitle With Travellers Purchasing the Relics That Were Found in the Field of Battle, 1815
Washington Irving in the Archives of Seville is a painting of 1828 by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a visit by the American writer Washington Irving to a library in Seville.
Blind-Man's Buff is an 1812 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It shows a game of Blind man's buff. While depictions of the game had appeared in art before, Willkie chose to portray a humbler settling than earlier versions generally set in drawing rooms.
Pitlessie Fair is an 1804 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It depicts the annual mayfair being held in his native village of Pitlessie in Fife.
Portrait of William IV is an 1832 portrait painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It is a depiction of the reigning British monarch William IV, who had come to the throne two years earlier. Wilkie was Principal Painter in Ordinary to the king and produced this full-length work showing William in his garter robes with St Edward's Crown beside him. Wilkie was a great admirer of Old Masters and the presentation of the king echoes that of Hans Holbein's Portrait of Henry VIII.
Napoleon and Pius VII at Fontainebleau is an 1836 history painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. It depicts Napoleon, the emperor of France, meeting with Pope Pius VII at Fontainebleau Palace. Wilkie was inspired by a passage in Walter Scott's 1827 biography The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte.
Christopher Columbus Explaining His Intended Voyage is an 1834 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a scene in 1485 at the La Rábida Friary in Huelva when the explorer Christopher Columbus sets out his plans to reach Asia by sailing westwards. Departing seven years later he was instead to land in the Americas, a major moment in the Age of Discovery. It is also known by the longer title Christopher Columbus in the Convent of La Rabida Explaining His Intended Voyage.
Josephine and the Fortune-Teller is an 1837 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a story about the young Joséphine de Beauharnais visiting a fortune teller on her native island of Martinique, who predicts her future in France as the wife of Emperor Napoleon.
The Village Recruit is an 1805 genre painting by the Scottish artist David Wilkie. Painted at the time of the Napoleonic Wars it shows a recruiting party of the British Army in a country tavern where one young man has just enlisted and prepares to spend his King's shilling on further alcohol. It was painted when Wilkie was around twenty, the year he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy. It was one of three paintings that were spin-offs from his 1804 work Pitlessie Fair, which had featured a recruiting party. Influenced like much of Wilkie's work by the old masters of the seventeenth century, it has strong similarities to his better-known work The Village Politicians. It was initially known by the alternative title Bounty Money.
The Guerilla's Return is an 1830 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. Wilkie had visited Spain a few years earlier and produced three works set during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). After they were exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition in 1828 they were purchased by George IV. Around this time Wilkie shifted his style which previously echoed the genre paintings of David Taniers but now used the oil sketches of Rubens as an inspiration.
The Murder of David Rizzio is an 1833 history painting by the Scottish artist William Allan. It portrays the 1566 assassination of the Italian courtier David Rizzio at Holyrood Palace during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. On the left side of the canvas Mary is shown being restrained by her husband Lord Darnley. The artist took great care to be historically accurate in his depictions of the various figures portrayed in the scene. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition at Somerset House in London where it was major success. Today it is in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery, having been acquired in 1927.
