Richard Wilson (1714–1782)

• Was an influential Welsh landscape painter.
• The son of a clergyman, Richard Wilson was born on 1 August 1714, in the village of Penegoes in Montgomeryshire.
• In 1729 he went to London, where he began as a portrait painter, under the apprenticeship of an obscure artist, Thomas Wright.
• From 1750 to 1757 Wilson was in Italy, and became a landscape painter on the advice of Francesco Zuccarelli.
• Painting in Italy and afterwards in Britain, he was the first major British painter to concentrate on landscape.
• He concentrated on painting idealised Italianate landscapes and landscapes based upon classical literature.
• His painting, The Destruction of the Children of Niobe (c. 1759–60), won acclaim, he gained many commissions from landowners seeking classical portrayals of their estates.
• In December 1768 Wilson became one of the founder-members of the Royal Academy.
• Among Wilson's pupils was the painter Thomas Jones.
• Wilson died in Colomendy, Denbighshire on 15 May 1782.
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