David Wilkie

Sir David Wilkie was born in Cults, Fife, November 18, 1785 and died Off Malta, June 1, 1841.

Wilkie's large-scale works of contemporary history combined acute observation of everyday life with allusions to the traditions of seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting. Trained first at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh, Wilkie moved to London in 1805 to study at the Royal Academy Schools. His exhibition of Village Politicians in 1806 brought immediate success, on which he continued to build throughout the 1810s. After the death of his mother and two brothers in 1824, he suffered a nervous breakdown. To recover his strength, Wilkie embarked on a journey to continental Europe, traveling extensively in Italy in 1826 and 1827, and arriving in Spain, an unusual destination for artists, by the end of that year. Five of the eight pictures he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1829 were purchased by George IV, whose patronage ensured Wilkie's success among members of the king's circle. The artist's final journey was to the Holy Land in 1840; he died on the return voyage and was buried off the coast of Gibraltar.