Joseph Wilton
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Wilton (16 July 1722 – 25 November 1803) was an English sculptor. He was one of the founding members of the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
in 1768, and the academy's third keeper. His works are particularly numerous memorialising the famous Britons in Westminster Abbey.


Life

He was born the son of an ornamental plasterer in the
Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...
area of London, 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. Wilton initially trained under
Laurent Delvaux Laurent Delvaux (1696, in Ghent – 24 February 1778, in Nivelles) was a Flemish sculptor. After a successful international career that brought him to London and Rome, he returned to the Austrian Netherlands where he was a sculptor to the cour ...
at Nivelles, in present-day Belgium. In 1744 he left Nivelles and went to the Academy in Paris to study under
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785) was a French sculptor. Life Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the ''Prix de Rome'', after a severe struggle he entered the ''Ac ...
. In 1752 he went to Italy with his sculptor friend Louis-François Roubiliac to learn to sculpt in marble, and stayed for seven years, living first in Rome and then in Florence.Whinney 1971, p. 97. Whilst in Rome he met and befriended his first patron,
William Locke of Norbury William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...
, 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 of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond at Richmond House in west London. 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 by
Margaret Whinney Margaret Dickens Whinney (4 February 1897 – 1975) was an English art historian who taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her published works included books on British sculpture and architecture. Life Whinney was the daughter of Thomas Bost ...
to be one of Wilton's most distinguished works. While in Florence he made the acquaintance of the Florentine painter
Giovanni Battista Cipriani Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727 – 14 December 1785) was an Italian painter and engraver, who lived in England from 1755. He is also called Giuseppe Cipriani by some authors. Much of his work consisted of designs for prints, many of whic ...
. When Wilton and the architect William Chambers returned to England, in August 1755, Cipriani went with them. Once back in London, Wilton was named co-director of Lennox's Richmond House gallery, and established a workshop. He built up a considerable practice, making busts and monuments, including the memorial to James Wolfe in Westminster Abbey. He made at least two marble busts of Oliver Cromwell, which he showed at the Society 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. In 1761, he was first commissioned to produce a statue of King George 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 to
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and erected at Bowling Green, near the tip of Manhattan 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 in Westminster 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. 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. He was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Wanstead in east London.


Principal works

*Monument to Admiral Samuel Graves in Antony, Cornwall (1755) *Monument to Pyke Crouch in
Buntingford Buntingford is a market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It lies next to the River Rib and is located on the historic Roman road, Ermine Street. As a result of its location, it ...
, Hertfordshire (1756) *Monument to Admiral Temple West in Westminster Abbey (1757) *Bust of Thomas Sydenham (1758) *Bust of a Bearded Immortal for Wentworth Woodhouse (1758) *a
Medici lion The Medici lions are a pair of marble sculptures of lions: one of which is Rome, Roman, dating to the 2nd century AD, and the other a 16th-century Pendant painting, pendant. Both were by 1598 placed at the Villa Medici, Rome. Since 1789 they h ...
sculpture at Kedleston Hall (carved around 1760–1770) *Monument to Stephen Hales in Westminster Abbey (1761) *Monument to Admiral Holmes in Westminster Abbey (1761) *Bust of his friend Louis-François Roubiliac (1761) *Monument to Bishop Hoadly in Winchester Cathedral (1761) *Gold State Coach (1762)Gold State Coach 1762
Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved: 20 May 2022.
*Monument to Charlotte St. Quentin in
Harpham Harpham is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located just south of the A614 road, approximately north-east of Driffield and south-west of Bridlington. The civil parish ...
, Yorkshire (1762) *Bust of Sir Isaac Newton in the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, Oxford (1762) *Bust of Oliver Cromwell, Victoria and Albert Museum (1762) *Monument to Sir Hans Sloane in the churchyard of Chelsea Old Church (1763) *Monument to Mary Okeover in Okeover,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
(1764) *Monument to William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath in Westminster Abbey (1764) *Bust of Lord Camden (1767) *Monument to the Earl and Countess of Mountrath in Westminster Abbey (1771) *Bust of
Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
for Lord Radnor (1771) now in University College Oxford *Monument to General James Wolfe in Westminster Abbey (1772) *Bust of Lord Chesterfield, 4th Earl of Bristol at Ickworth Park,
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
(1772) *Monument to Sir Thomas Street in Worcester Cathedral (1774) *Monument (including a life-size figure) of the Earl of Mexborough at
Methley Methley is a dispersed village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, south east of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is located near Rothwell, Oulton, Woodlesford, Mickletown and Allerton Bywater. The Leeds City Ward is called Kippax a ...
, Yorkshire (1778) *Monument to Sir
Basil Keith Sir Basil Keith (1734 – 15 November 1777) was a British naval officer and Governor of Jamaica. He was born the second son of diplomat Robert Murray Keith and the younger brother of Lieutenant-General Robert Keith. Keith joined the Navy, and ...
in Jamaica Cathedral (1780) *Monument to Sir
James Steuart Denham Sir James Steuart, 3rd Baronet of Goodtrees and 7th Baronet of Coltness (; 21 October 1712 – 26 November 1780), also known as Sir James Steuart Denham and Sir James Denham Steuart, was a prominent Scottish Jacobite and author of "probably ...
in Westminster Abbey (1780) *Monument to his own daughters in Chelsea Old Church (1781) *Bust of Sir Robert Long (d 1767) in
Draycot Cerne Draycot Cerne (Draycott) is a small village and former civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about north of Chippenham. History The parish was referred to as ''Draicote'' (Medieval Latin) in the ancient Domesday hundred of Startley when Geoff ...
Church, Wiltshire (1784) *Monument to Sir Archibald Campbell in Westminster Abbey (1795)


Trivia

By some accounts, the town of Wilton, New Hampshire is said to have been named after Sir Joseph in 1762.


Notes


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilton, Joseph 1722 births 1803 deaths 18th-century British sculptors 18th-century English male artists English male sculptors Keepers of the Royal Academy Royal Academicians Sculptors from London