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

PRICE 5d

SIR DAVID WILKIE.

It WAS but the other day thtit,. we rejoioed in the de-
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 Palestine, wherein he
expressed his delight in the strange lands and nations be
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. Jean d'Acre, he
saw the hills of the Holy Land, he described as amount-
ingto rapture.

It has for some time been reported in the newspapers
that Sir David was ill, yet he could scarcely be called
ailing, either daring his voyage to Egypt, or his reso-
dance there. Miura he painted the portrait of
Mehemet Ali, and made numberless sketches ; indeed, se
far as we can learn, his health did not appear to have
suffered till he reached Malta, where, oppressed it
is said by the heat, he ate freely of frnit, and drank
some iced lemonade. According to the published
accounts, on the 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 request- he would conic 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.Woodhurne, being greatly alarmed, asked Dr. Brown
(who was with Sir James Carnac) to consult Mr. Gattie
as to what.could be done to save 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 suffertag, and • became un-
conscious about half-past 7, And. at 8 o'clock he •ceased
to breathe, his friends alid the physicians being with
him all tico time. The passengers aaaerabled to con-
sult what was to be done, and they requested the captah4
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 hm ie emory, from the hand of his friend
Sir Francis Chanters.

How or when Willie first evinced a love for art, we
have never heard ; it is likely that few now remember,
and that he himsef. never thought it worth the telling.
A story, however, of his love for character when very
young has been toll 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 is.'—' 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 psalln, he just gloried--I mann see him some
of these days.' " His first models Wilkie rewarded with
a tune on his . fiddle, such as " Clean pea stew," or
" Maggie Lauder ;" his London models were not so
cheaply remain rated for their time.
In his fifteenth year (1803) his love for art and hie
skill with thepeneil 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' toe fine arts, wasentrusted with the power of naming
subjects for competition, and distributing prizes: For
one of these prizes the subject was a scene in Macbeth,
and Wilkie obtained the send prim ; 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 extendecl.itself to a
predilection for a feer of his works ; and an engraving,
iron a picture by his tifst 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 succesefithfollower in his footsteps' and
John Burnet, whose engrayings, after Wilkie, haee 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 'or his first
pictures was of a Public House,' and another
called Pitlaesie 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 pietnre 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 Illasfield, 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 Hodso. 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 oven 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, 1
ur,_ 111.1 ad r2o picture in the Exhibition of the following
February 1811, he was made an Academician
and an Esquire ; the presentation picture vas his " Boys
digging for Rats." In the same year he exhibited " A
Gamekeeper" (now
Scene." at Coleorton), and " A Humorous
Scene." pencil was never i"diTe,haenkiriilnlalBl2 had
on the walls of Somerset-house F
emhs
teoi olutd,s,
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 L,
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 GOO
guineas, sold to Raimbach, for engraving. for the
same sum, and, when engraved, was bought from
R.aimbach by Mr. Wells of Redleaf for TOO guineas.
In 1816 he exhibited his " Rabbit on the Wall," in
1817 " The Breakfast," in 1818 " The Errand Boy,"
and. " The Abb3tsford 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 450 guineas from the Ring of Ba-
varia. But one year had occurred as vet without a
Wilkie in the annual Exhibition. In 1821 he exhibited
Ni.:,roc,7and ".Newsmongers," and in 1822 his
GuessClwl m
seaYPensiopers Beading the Gazette of the Battle