Joseph Wilton | |
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%2c_holding_a_bust_of_Demosthenes).jpg) 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 |
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Joseph WiltonRA (16 July 1722 – 25 November 1803) was an English sculptor. He was one of the founding members of theRoyal Academy in 1768, and the academy's third keeper.His works are particularly numerous memorialising the famous Britons inWestminster Abbey.
He was born the son of an ornamental plasterer in theCharing Cross area ofLondon, 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 underLaurent Delvaux atNivelles, in present-day Belgium. In 1744 he left Nivelles and went to the Academy in Paris to study underJean-Baptiste Pigalle. In 1752 he went to Italy with his sculptor friendLouis-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 ofCharles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond atRichmond 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 byMargaret Whinney to be one of Wilton's most distinguished works.[3]
While in Florence he made the acquaintance of the Florentine painterGiovanni Battista Cipriani. When Wilton and the architectWilliam 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 toJames Wolfe in Westminster Abbey.[2] He made at least two marble busts ofOliver Cromwell, which he showed at theSociety 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 KingGeorge 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 toAmerica and erected atBowling Green, near the tip ofManhattan 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 inWestminster 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 atSt Mary the Virgin, Wanstead in east London.[7]
By some accounts, the town ofWilton, New Hampshire is said to have been named after Sir Joseph in 1762.
Whinney, Margaret (1971).English Sculpture 1750–1830. London: HMSO.
22 artworks by or after Joseph Wilton at theArt UK site
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