Francis Wheatley

Francis Wheatley was born in London, 1747 and died in London, June 28, 1801.

The son of a Covent Garden tailor, Wheatley was essentially self-taught. He traveled to the Continent in 1762 after winning a premium at the Society of Arts. He became director of the Society in 1774 and exhibited there exclusively from 1770 to 1777. Wheatley's activities were multifarious. In addition to the small-scale, informal portraits (called conversation pieces) for which he is best known, he carried out scenic tableaux, interior decoration, and landscapes. Fleeing debt and scandal in 1779, he settled in Dublin where he executed history paintings and landscapes. On his return to London in 1783, he began working for the print publisher John Boydell, who between 1793 and 1797 published Wheatley's most popular series of engravings, The Cries of London.