The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-18 00:00:00

Slit DAVID WILKIE.

It was hut the other clay that we rejoiced in the a:.
parture of this great painter for the East, and saw in
fancy a, series oF delightful pictures, in which the East-
ern costume and character were brightly stamped. Let-
ters arrived both from Turkey and Pales/ inc, wherein he
expressed his delight in the strange land:s and nations ho
was visiting ; nor were his communications without their
devout sympathy with the hills and vales which, when a
boy, he had seen by the light of Scripture. His pleasure
when, on entering the harbour of St. Jerca d'Acre, he
saw the hills of the Holy Land, he described as amount-
ing to rapture.

It has for some time been reported i,i the newspapers
that Sir David was ill, yet he coul'l scarcely be called
ailing, eith(er during his voyage to Egypt, or his reso-
dence there, where he painted the portrait of
Mehemet Ali, and made number] ass sketches ; indeed, se
far as we can learn, his health_ did not appear to have
suffered till he reached. Ma',ta, where, oppressed it
is said by the heat, he ate tr eely of fruit, and drank
some iced lemonade. According to the published
accounts, on Use 31st of May, the Oriental steamer,
on board of which Sir David and his friend Mr.
Woodburne were passengers, entered Gibraltar Bay, and
received her despatches. " Shortly after she had got
under weigh, six o'clock A.M., Mr. Woodburne went into
Sir David Wilkie's berth to reotuest he would come up
and breakfast with the company ; he replied that he
should probably do so, but he should like to see the
doctor. Mr. Gattie, a medical gentleman, then came to
him, and soon returned to Mr. Woodburne, with an as-
surance that his friend was in a very dangerous state.
Mr.Woodburne, being greatly alarmed, asked Dr. Brown
(who was with Sir James Carn.ac) to consult Mr. Gattie
as to what could be done to sa-ce his friend ; and the two
medical gentlemen made every exertion, and applied all
the usual remedies within their reach, without avail.
Sir David kept gradually sinking, but did not appear
to experience any bodily suffering, and became un-
conscious about half-past 7, and at 8 o'clock he ceased
to breathe, his friends and the physicians being with
him all the time. The passengers assembled to con-
sult what was to be done, and they requested the captain
to return and land the body at Gibraltar. He did return;
but the orders of the Governor are so strict, that the
remains could not be allowed to come on shore, and
therefore the last sad office of committing his body to
the deep was performed in the most solemn and impres-
sive manner, as the Oriental stood out of the bay on her
way to England."
Sir David Wilkie was the son of the Reverend David
Wilkie, the minister of Cults, near, Cupar, in Fife, and
the author of a work entitled " Theory of Interest, Sim-
. ple and Compound, derived from First Principles, and
applied to Annuities of all Descriptions." David was,
we believe, one of four children, and was born in the
manse, or minister's house, celebrated in former times
for the retreat there of the murderers of Archbishop
Sharpe. Sir David always spoke of his father with the
highest filial affection, and when his name was before the
world and some of its money in his pocket, he erected a
monument to his memory, from the hand of his friend
Sir Francis Chantery.
How or when Wilkie first evinced a love for art, we
have never heard ; it is likely that few now remember,
and that he himself never thought it worth the telling.
A story, however, of his love for character when very
young has been told before in this paper, and we cannot
do better than reprint it here :—" We happened, some
time ago, to be living near Canterbury," says an old and
well-known writer, " when we were accosted by a north-
country peasant, or wandering gardener, from the
county of Fife, who took a paper from his pocket-
book and desired us to read it. This was a certifi-
cate of character, written by the Rev. Mr. Wilkie,
of Cults, in Fife, setting forth that the bearer was sober
and so forth. I have heard,' said the Scot, that the
minister has a son in London, who is grown a great man.
I wonder which of his sons it can be.'—' It is David,'
we answered, and a far-famed man he David !'
he exclaimed, what, wee curly-headed David ?—wha
would have thought that now ! And what is he great
for, can ye tell me ?'—' For painting,' we replied.—
' Painting !' the man of Fife turned up his eyes : paint-
ing ! now that brings to my mind that he used to draw
the heads of the boys in the school, and me among the
rest—and when he saw a boy mounting the furm for no
saying his psalm, he just gloried—l maun see him some
of these days.'" His first models Wilkie rewarded with
a tune on his fiddle, such as " Clean pea strae," or
" Maggie Lauder ;" his London models were not so
cheaply remunerated for their time.

In his fifteenth year (1803) his love for art and his
skill with the pencil was such that his father and his
friends thought that both merited cultivation ; and young
Wilkie was sent to Edinburgh, where he was regularly
entered a student of the Trustees Academy, then under
the direction of Mr. John Graham. This Academy had
been originally instituted for the encouragement of de-
sign in manufactures, but Graham, in extending its uses
to the fine arts, was entrusted with the power of naming
subjects for competition, and distributing prizes. For
one of these prizes the subject was a scene' n Macbeth,
and Wilkie obtained the second prize ; the first was
awarded to an individual of the name of Thomson. Of
Graham's general kindness, Wilkie always entertained a
grateful remembrance, and gratitude extended itself to a
predilection for a few of his works ; and an engraving,
from a picture by his first master, was one of the orna-
ments of the pupil's house at Kensington. Here Wilkie
had for his fellow-students, William Allan, the present
Academician and successful follower in•his footsteps, and
John Burnet, whose engravings, after Wilkie, have' done
so much to increase the reputation of both.
At this early spring-time of his life, Wilkie had given
some promise of his after excellences. One of his first
pictures was an ' Inside of a Public House,' and another
called Pitlassie Fair.' It was at Pitlassie that he saw
his Blind Fiddler led from booth to booth, and there he
gained the leading features of that inimitable picture.
" Both," said Graham, " are in the style of Ostade, with
great breadth, great character, and great expression."
Wilkie at this time had never seen an Ostade. One of
his early works was for many years a public sign in the
town of Cupar,—it has now found a more honourable and
less perishable station.
Two years at the Trustees Academy was then the
usual period of study, but Wilkie stayed there two years
longer (as did Burnet and others), and in 1804 came to
London with the ambition and the talents of an artist.
He was for some time here unknown and unencouraged,
but still toiling away at his art with all the confidence of
true. genius and the certainty of success. His first pic-
tures found no very profitable market, through a com-
mon enough exhibition—a place in a frame-maker's win-
dow at Charing-cross. He had left a few of his works,
without his name or address, to be sold at stated prices
for ready money. A week after Wilkie called to see
how Fortune had' favoured him, and found that his
works, with their merit and low prices, had met with an
immediate sale.

His first picture exhibited in the rooms of. the Royal
Academy was his " Village Politicians," in 1806, when
little more than one-and-twenty. This was an order
from Lord Mansfield, who named no sum, and hesitated
at the price when the picture was produced, as too great
for a young and unknown artist. But this was previous
to its exhibition, and it was not before public admiration
had named five times the amount as its value, that his
Lordship paid the purchase-money or was reconciled to
his bargain. Never was such a second picture sent to
the Academy Exhibition as Wilkie sent in 1807, for
in that year his "Blind Fiddler" was exhibited on the
walls of Somerset House. Hundreds then crowded
around it, and thousands have since seen it with untir-
ing admiration. It' is now in the National Gallery, and
was Wilkie's execution of an order from the late Sir
George Beaumont of a picture to the value of fifty
pounds! Would it not sell for a thousand now ? Wil-
kie's first lodging in London was at 11, Norton-street,
Oxford-street ; when he painted the " Blind Fiddler "
his address was 10, Sol's-row, Hampstead. He thence
removed to Kensington, and never left that neighbour-
hood.

In 1808 he exhibited his " Card Players ;" for a good
picture, an early Wilkie is not produced without great
thought and great labour, and the artist knew that he

must first learn to do well whatsoever he desired to do
with ease. He soon, however mastered freedom of
touch and finish, for in 1809 he exhibited his " Cut
Finger " and his " Rent Day." The latter was bought
by Lord Mulgrave for 300 guineas, and offered for sale
at Christie's some ten years back, but bought in. The
colours had faded greatly, but the character and ex-
pression were there even beyond what Raimbach has
reached in his excellent engraving. Wilkie's portrait,
by Beechey, was one of the attractions of the same Ex-
hibition.
In November 1809, he became an Associate of the
Royal Academy, and, seemingly content with his first
honour, had no picture in the Exhibition of the following
May. In February 1811, he was made an Academician
and an Esquire ; the presentation picture was his " Boys
digging for Rats." In the same year he exhibited " A
Gamekeeper" (now at Coleorton), and " A Humorous
Scene." His pencil was never idle, and in 1812 he had
on the walls of Somerset-house " The Village Festival,"
and a sketch of his " Blindman's Buff." The "Festival"
was sold to Mr. Angerstein for 900 guineas, and is now
in the National Gallery. These were followed in 1813
by " Blindman's Buff' (in the Royal Collection), and in
1814 by " The Letter of Introduction," and " Duncan
Gray," or " The Refusal." For " The Letter of Intro-
duction" Wilkie received from Mr. Dobree, of Waltham-
stow, 200 guineas, and his " Duncan Gray," at Lord
Charles Townshend's sale, passed, at the price of 450/.,
into the collection of Mr. Sheepshanks.
In 1815 he exhibited his " Distraining for Rent."
The history of this picture is curious : it was bought
by the Governors of the British Institution for 600
guineas, sold to Ram' bath, for engraving for the
same sum, and, when engraved, was bought from
Raimbach by Mr. Wells of Redleaf for 700 guineas.
In 1816 he exhibited his " Rabbit on the Wall," in
1817 " The Breakfast," in 1818 " The Errand Boy,"
and " The Abbotsford Family," now at Huntly-Burn.
No picture was allowed to remain on his hands, and
he had orders faster than he could execute them.
" The Penny Wedding," exhibited in 1819, was a
commission from the Prince Regent, and " The Read-
ing of the Will," of the "following year, a commission
to the amount of 4.50 guineas. from the Ring of Ba-
varia. But one year had occurred as yet without a
Wilkie in the annual Exhibition. In 1821 he exhibited
Name,"and " Newsmongers,"
" Guess myand in 1822 his
" Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Gazette of the Battle

PRICE 5d

of Waterloo," painted for the Duke of Wellington at the
cost of 1,2001., by far the largest sum that he had then
received. These were followed in 1823 by his Parish
Beadle,' in 1824 by his " Smugglers offering run goods
for sale or concealment," and his scene from "The Gentle
She
called in the catalogue" The Cottage Toilet,"
and
in
1:25 by " The Highland Family."
To all joyb:s of art, and all the frequenters of the
great London ZKliibition, t;:e years 1826, 1827, and
1828 were sadly Wan:ing iii pictures, for there was
nothing there from Willie's haod. These were the
years of his memorable visit to, Roane and Madrid,
that wrought such changes in his style, and in the selec-
tion of his subjects. Italy had been a beaten ground for
painters of all grades of merit, and Wilkie thought it ad-
visable to take to a new field, and find in Spanish sub-
jects a picturesque novelty that would attract and com-
mand attention. Nor was he wrong,—he returned laden
with sketches, and several pictures all but comploo ;
among the latter were " The Spanish Posada," "The
Maid of Saragossa," " The Guerilla's Departure," in d
" The Guerilla's Return ;" the four pictures tint
George IV. made his on the unpacking of the painter's
foreign labours.
On the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, in 1830,
Wilkie, then busy with his portrait of George IV. in
his Highland dress, and his Royal patron's reception
at Holyrood, was appointed to succeed Sir Thomas in
the office of principal painter in ordinary to his Ma-
jesty. There was something of Spain in all that he now
did, and his portraits (for he took to portraiture on his
return,) had a dash of his favourite Velasquez about
them aIL Among the best of his portraits we would in-
stance his " Lady Lyndhurst " (at the Duke of Welling-
ton's,) for its colour and treatment, not for its likeness,
and the " Duke of Sussex" as Earl of Inverness (exhi-
bited in 1833), for its general breadth, and as a portrait
which Vandyke would have admired.
With all his passion for portrait-painting, or rather,
perhaps, its profits, which he now manifested, he did
not neglect the higher branch of his art, and his
" John Knox preaching" was of a more elevated class
of pictures than he had before attempted. , The Knox
was exhibited in 1832, and purchased by Sir Robert
Peel for 1,5001. To carry on, however. the stream
of his works, he exhibited, in 1833, his " Spanish
Monks," a scene witnessed in a Capuchin convent at
Toledo ; in 1834 his " Not at Home," and his " Spa-
nish Mother and uhild ;" in 1835 his " Columbus,"
(now at Mr. Holford's, in the Regent's-park—the price
. .

1,100 guineas) ; in 1836 (the year -in- which he was
knighted) his " Peep-o'-day-boy's Cabin ;" in 1837 his
" Mary Queen of Scots escaping from Lochleven Castle,"
" 'I he Cotter's Saturday Night," and " The Empress
Josephine and the Fortune-teller ;" in 1838 " Queen
Victoria's First Council ; in 1839 " Sir David Baird
finding the Body of Tippoo Seib," and " Grace before
Meat ;" in 1840 " Benvenuto Celliti and the Pope," and
" the Irish Whisky Still ;" and in 1841 two portraits, the
last that he has lived to send. The Baird was a com-
mission from the hero's widow, to the amount of 1,5001.
Among his unfinished works was "Nelson sealing a Let-
ter," and " John Knox administering the Sacrament."
Such are a few of the works of this eminent pain-
ter, which require enumeration rather than descrip-
tion, for the gravers of our best artists have been
employed to widen the world's intimacy with them.
Sir David was but fifty-six when he died. There was
time for many a fine picture before he had attained the
scriptural threescore and ten. " Hogg met him in 1816,"
says Mr. Lockart, " with a graceful greeting. He eyed
the great painter for a moment in silence, and then,
stretching out his hand, said, " Thank God for it ; I
did not know that you were so young a man !' " Hogg
felt as we all have felt, but did not live to participate in
our regrets..

Into all his earlier pictures 'Wilkie introduced cha-
racters such as his native land readily supplied. No
strolling fiddler, wandering tinker, or mendicant bag-
piper passed him, it is said, while he was but a boy,
without a record in in the sure sketch-book of his me-
mory. He took sittings, too, of the husbandman
and matrons of the land, and illustrated with them the
social manners of Scotland. So wisely had he studied,
and so happily had he singled out scenes in sympathy
with his own powers and the popular feeling, that his
two first pictures may be said to have established his
fame. These were followed by a succession of pictures
in the same spirit, in which not only all and more than
the fine grouping, and life, and social character, of the
best Dutch painters appeared, but a purity and moral
purpose unknown to that school.

When' at the height of his fame,,he visited Spain
and Italy, and his genius received fresh impulse and
a new direction from the great painters of those
countries. We have heard him speak with delight
which brightened in his eyes of the wonders wrought
by Velasquez, by Tintoretto, and by Titian. From
this time forward his reach was higher and his subjects
of a nobler order. His ascent was gradual and regular.
His Waterloo Gazette' was the earliest intimation
which we had of his rise : his' Knox' was a step into
the historic, but his Maid of Saragossa,' his Josephine,'
and his Columbus,' was a stride, and a long one. Yet
critics were not wanting who regarded each fine proof of
the variety of genius as a descent from his first style
and his homelier pictures ; that he had deviated like
Turner from the right path which he was once so far
advanced in ; and that he had plumed himself for flimhts
for which he had not the reach or strength of wing.
This however is certain, that he could never have attained
a fame for that style of painting greater than his first
pictures had procured him.

There is a.-reason for everything in Wilkie's pictures ;
he has no accessory without its propriety. In dramatic
skill in telling a story he is only equalled by Hogarth,
while in the brightness of expression and variety of his
productions, he approaches and sometimes walks side by
side with Burns. In mingled humour and seriousness,
in open mirth and that tenderness which inclines to tears,
they resembled each other, and equally so in that moral
feeling which lends such lustre to both poetry and paint-
ing. His fine taste came as much from nature as from
study : there was thought impressed on all his composi-
tions, and the sentiment of the scene was ever uppermost.
He had the finest sense of propriety of any modern
painter, and an insight into human nature which he has
stamped on all he touched. The Arts have not suffered
such a loss since the death of Sir Joshua.
No one ever worked harder for fame than Wilkie.

Every large picture that he painted had its fifty subsi-
diary sketches and studies for light and shade, for heads
and for hands, and all of masterly touch and finish. He
had clay figures for every picture, to shift for light or
composition's sake. He had acquired all the secrets of
his art, but with all the liberality of genius made no
secret of what he knew. An instance of his liberality
in teaching others to arrive at his own excellencies be-
fore recorded in this paper deserves transcription here.
" A young man, now a painter of eminence, when the
fit of art fell upon him, came to London, resolved to
commence painter at once. He had a letter of in-
troduction to a member of the Royal Academy—a
distinguished one. He was received with politeness,
and was emboldened to request some information
concerning the mode of making up a palette and
employing colours. ' Young man,' said this person
there are mysteries in my art—these are of them,
which are not to be told, and must be discovered by
long study—l wish you a good morning ?"I'hus re-
pulsed," said our informant, " I resolved to be more wary
with Wilkie, to whom I had a letter also—l saw him,
was received kindly, and as soon as possible I began to
hunt for the information I wanted as ingeniously as I
could. Wilkie turned sharply round, and said, Oh,
you want to know how to prepare your palette, and
commence on canvas ? Had you said so at first it
would have saved going round the bush—come with me.'
He took me into his painting room, and would not let
me go away, till he saw that I had mastered the difficulty
to a certain extent. As we parted he said, smiling,
Come back, if I can help you further—come back at
any rate.' "—Atheneum.

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Albemarle-street, Piccadilly, opposite the York Hotel, an 76,
King William-street, City.
Taglioni's reception at Milan, which she was to
leave on the 10th, has been most enthusiastic and flatter-
ing. On the 18th of last month she appeared, for the
first time, in the ballet of Gitana; and, to use her at n
words in a letter, which, by the kindness of a friend, we
have before us—and a ntost elegant production it is—
" On my appearance on the stage, I was received with an
enthusiasm which it would be impossible to describe.
'There was something grave and imposing, I assure you,
in appearing.before an audience in this magnificent hall,
crowded from roof to floor. Apres cette premiere recep-
tiOn, jai. danse un ; during which time I could scarcely
hear the inwie, it, was so overpowered by the plaudits (.1'
the audience." The Spanish dance of the Gitana cau:,ed
loud plaudits and encores ; and during the representation
of the ballet, she was five-and-twenty times encored.
Court Journal.