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.
The title of Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King or Queen of England or, later, Great Britain, was awarded to a number of artists, nearly all mainly portraitists. It was different from the role of Serjeant Painter, and similar to the earlier role of "King's Painter". Other painters, for example Nicholas Hilliard had similar roles with different titles. "Principal Painter in Ordinary", first used for Sir Anthony Van Dyck, became settled as the usual title with John Riley in 1689.
Scottish art in the nineteenth century is the body of visual art made in Scotland, by Scots, or about Scottish subjects. This period saw the increasing professionalisation and organisation of art in Scotland. Major institutions founded in this period included the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Glasgow Institute. Art education in Edinburgh focused on the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh. Glasgow School of Art was founded in 1845 and Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in 1885.
Alexander Carse was a Scottish painter known for his scenes of Scottish life. His works include a large canvas of George IV's visit to Leith and three early paintings of football matches.
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 Defence of Saragossa is an 1828 history painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It depicts a scene during the 1808 Siege of Zaragoza at the time of the Peninsular War.
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.
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.
The Orphan is an 1834 painting by the Scottish artist William Allan. Allan produced it as a lament for the loss of his friend and supporter the writer Sir Walter Scott who had died in 1832. It depicts the dining room of Abbotsford, the country house in southern Scotland. Scott's daughter Anne leans mournfully against the writer's empty carved oak chair.
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.
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.
