Wilkie, Sir David

Wilkie, Sir David (b Cults, nr. Cupar, Fife, 18 Nov. 1785; d at sea, off Malta, 1 June 1841). Scottish painter. He trained in Edinburgh and then in 1805 moved to London, where he studied briefly at the Royal Academy Schools. His Village Politicians (priv. coll.) was the hit of the RA exhibition of 1806 and he established himself as the most popular genre painter of the day. He was strongly influenced in technique and subject matter by 17th-century Netherlandish artists such as Ostade and Teniers, and the public loved the wealth of lively and often humorous incident in his paintings. His Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Gazette of the Battle of Waterloo (1822, Wellington Mus., London), commissioned by the Duke of Wellington, was so popular when shown at the Royal Academy that a rail had to be erected in front of it to protect it from the crowds (a precaution not repeated until 1858, with Frith's Derby Day). In 1825–8 Wilkie travelled abroad for reasons of health and his style changed radically under the influence particularly of Spanish painting, becoming grander in subject matter and broader in touch. The change was regretted by many of his contemporaries. In 1840 he went to the Holy Land to research material for his biblical paintings and on the return journey died at sea; his friend Turner commemorated him in Peace: Burial at Sea (1842, Tate, London).

Wilkie's success did much to establish the popularity of anecdotal painting in Britain and many Victorian artists were influenced by him. The esteem in which he was held was possible only in an age that looked first to the ‘story’ of a painting and the moral lesson it contained. In his Last Judgement (1853, Tate) John Martin portrayed Wilkie alongside some of the world's greatest artists—Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and so on—and many contemporaries would have agreed that he belonged in such company.