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Joseph Wilton ( 1722 - 1803 )  Category ( Sculptors ) [suggest a correction]
 

Joseph WiltonJoseph Wilton was an eighteenth-century English sculptor who is famous for executing a number of busts of important historical figures. Interestingly, he accepted a commission from the Colony of New York, America, in 1766. The subject was King George III, and the statue was near colossal, featuring the king on horseback in Roman attire, then gilded. The splendid work was proudly displayed was proudly displayed at Bowling Green, right at the tip of the island of Manhattan, but it existed there only for a few years. It was torn down and demolished during the American Revolution ten years later.

Wilton also is famous for being one of the founding members of the Royal Academy. He was also the Academy's third keeper. Wilton was born into a life of privilege in London. His father owned an extremely profitable factory that produced paper-mache ornaments His parents recognized his artistic talents early and sent their son to the Continent to study. He trained in Paris, Rome, Florence, and Flanders. Eighteenth-century training in art consisted of copying from classical models and images and sculptures from the antique period. He befriended Florentine painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani, and the Italian came to England with Wilton, upon his return.

Commissions already were waiting for Wilton, and Charles Lennox, the Third Duke of Richmond offered him the position of director for his gallery. He opened his first studio and workshop at his father’s home. In the early 1760s he received his first royal commission, to execute a statue of King George III. He also sculpted busts of Oliver Cromwell and other notable figures from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was commissioned to create memorial monuments as well, including those for James Wolfe and Stephen Hales, which are located in Westminster Abbey. Wilton also enjoyed bringing art and beauty to the mundane, and carved or directed the carving of fireplaces, mantelpieces, and tables. Additionally, he was commissioned to design George III's coronation coach. He was at the height of his career at this point.

On the home front, Wilton had married Frances Lucas and the couple had at least one child. However, he was to have a rapid fall into dissolution, as the result of coming into a large inheritance from his father. Within ten years he was utterly bankrupt and lived out the remainder of his seventeen years impoverished, though he did attempt to give lessons as a means of income.

Image: Portrait bust of Dr Antonio Cocchi, 1755, Joseph Wilton V&A Museum no. A.9-1966.


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Title :Biography
Description : Biography of WILTON, Joseph (b. 1722, London, d. 1803, London) in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European painting and sculpture (1100-1850)
 
 
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