The Life of Sir David Wilkie
With his Journals, Tours, and Critical Remarks on Works of Art

This 1843 three-volume biography of the painter Sir David Wilkie remains an indispensable source for his life and works.

Allan Cunningham (Author)

9781108078924, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 March 2015

508 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.7 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.7 kg

Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841) is often called the first truly international British artist. This three-volume biography, published in 1843, two years after Wilkie's sudden death while on a tour of the Mediterranean, and containing extracts from his journals and letters, remains an indispensable source for his life and works. Born in Scotland, Wilkie became a student at the Royal Academy in 1805, and in the following years the uncompromising realism of his scenes from rural life made his name known and attracted royal patronage: he was appointed 'the King's Limner in Scotland' by George IV. This work was compiled by his friend, the poet and critic Allan Cunningham (1784–1842), who himself died shortly after correcting the proofs: it was seen through the press by his son. Volume 1 traces Wilkie's life from his childhood, through student days, to his visit to Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford 1817.

Preface
1. Birth and parentage
2. The first impulse for art
3. Returns to cults
4. His first London lodging
5. Kindness of Mr Angerstein
6. Paints 'The Card Players'
7. Wilkie at Southampton
8. Wilkie in Devonshire
9. Wilkie paints 'The Wardrobe Ransacked'
10. Cults
11. Journal of a tour to Paris
12. 'Distraining for Rent'.

Subject Areas: The arts: general issues [AB]