William Wyld
Encyclopedia
William Wyld was an English painter.
thanks to the statesman George Canning
. There he served lord Granville
and got to know the watercolourist François Louis Thomas Francia
(an admirer of Thomas Girtin
and a teacher of Richard Parkes Bonington
), then living in Calais, and studied under him. When his family's protector, Canning, died on 8 August 1827 it became clear Wyld's diplomatic career could proceed no higher since he had interrupted his studies too soon. One of his friends was John Lewis Brown, active in commerce and also a major collector of Bonington's watercolours, and Brown gained him an opportunity to work as a wine merchant exporting champagne from Épernay
to England. During periods of enforced leisure Wyld used the free time to draw and paint with his friend right across France, from Dieppe
to Rouen
and meeting Horace Vernet
, then at the height of his fame.
Wyld worked for 6 years as a champagne merchant from 1827 to 1833, making use of the job's opportunities to network with the local artistocracy and to become well-versed in viticulture. He always wished to become a painter but delayed setting out on that course to allow his younger brother to come of age first so that he could succeed him in the wine business. With his friend the Baron de Vialar he then set out for Algiers
. The Baron fell in love with the country, bought a house there (where Wyld stayed six months) and became a member of the Conseil Général. This country had only been conquered in 1830 and had already been visited some time ago by Isabey
and Delacroix
. Wyld was about to leave the country when he learned that Vernet was on board a warship anchored in the bay of Algiers en route to Rome to take up his new post as director of the Académie de France
- the two men had only seen each other once in 6 years. Wyld presented himself on board the ship, was immediately recognised by Vernet and encouraged by him to become a painter, Vernet never having doubted that Wyld would one day do so. He proposed that Wyld come with him to Rome in an official fashion and promised to find him some means of support there
Arriving in Rome, Wyld received commissions for orientalist
paintings from Vernet's entourage, including from the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen
, whose portrait Vernet had painted some years earlier. Admiring Michelangelo
and Raphael
, after 6 months in Rome Wyld decided to make a tour of the whole of Italy on foot with a companion (apparently Émile-Aubert Lessore
). On 1 January 1834, they crossed the Simplon Pass
in a cart during a snowstorm and he then set up his studio in Paris, where he was commissioned to produce paintings of orientalist scenes and Venetian architecture. Becoming known to the public, he exhibited a 2m wide canvas "Venice at Sunrise" at the Paris Salon
of 1839, winning the 1st Gold Medal in the 3rd class for it.
Thanks to Vernet he mingled in the highest artistic circles of the July Monarchy
and became friends with Ary Scheffer
and Paul Delaroche (even though Scheffer and Delaroche would not talk to each other). He seems to have made another foreign trip in 1844, to Algeria and Egypt. In 1845 he travelled to Brittany
, where he built friendships, in particular with the Comtesse de Tromelin, born Mathilde Devin de Belleville in 1813, with whom he stayed and to whom he dedicated his "Chemin à Ploujean" (in a dedication that attests to the strength of their relationship)
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He travelled to Fougères
in Ille-et-Vilaine
then at Morlaix
in Finistère
. After the 1848 Revolution
he returned to the United Kingdom where he specialized in orientalist subjects, became a member of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours
and had a major success with the businessmen of Manchester
, making paintings crammed full of detail for them. In 1851 his admirer Queen Victoria commissioned paintings of Liverpool
and Manchester to celebrate her visit there, which remain in the Royal Collection
along with examples of his orientalist works. His View of Manchester has become an iconic image of the 19th-Century Cottonopolis
. In 1852 the Queen invited him to her summer residence at Balmoral Castle
to draw its surroundings. He then continued to live in Paris and exhibit at various salons. He was invited to the festivities for Queen Victoria's visit to France in 1855 (the first by a British head of state since 1520), at which he produced a monumental view of château de Saint-Cloud
. He participated in the 1855 Exposition
in the Pavillon des Arts at the request of Comte Émilien de Nieuwerkerke
, effectively French arts minister, on which occasion he was given the Légion d'honneur
. He remained active until his last breath, dying in his Paris home in 1889.
Life
Born to a family that had produced rich merchants for several generations, he gained a pronounced taste for drawing very young. On the death of a young uncle (also good at drawing) after a fall from a horse when William was aged 6, William inherited his drawing materials. Aged 20, he lost his father but family relations allowed him to be made secretary to the British Consulate in CalaisCalais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
thanks to the statesman George Canning
George Canning
George Canning PC, FRS was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.-Early life: 1770–1793:...
. There he served lord Granville
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville GCB PC , known as Lord Granville Leveson-Gower from 1786 to 1814 and as the Viscount Granville from 1814 to 1833, was a British Whig statesman and diplomat....
and got to know the watercolourist François Louis Thomas Francia
François Louis Thomas Francia
François Louis Thomas Francia was a French painter born in Calais and famous for his shore landscapes. He was the master of the young British painter Richard Parkes Bonington....
(an admirer of Thomas Girtin
Thomas Girtin
Thomas Girtin was an English painter and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form.-Biography:...
and a teacher of Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington
Richard Parkes Bonington was an English Romantic landscape painter. One of the most influential British artists of his time, the facility of his style was inspired by the old masters, yet was entirely modern in its application.-Life and work:Richard Parkes Bonington was born in the town of Arnold,...
), then living in Calais, and studied under him. When his family's protector, Canning, died on 8 August 1827 it became clear Wyld's diplomatic career could proceed no higher since he had interrupted his studies too soon. One of his friends was John Lewis Brown, active in commerce and also a major collector of Bonington's watercolours, and Brown gained him an opportunity to work as a wine merchant exporting champagne from Épernay
Épernay
Épernay is a commune in the Marne department in northern France. Épernay is located some 130 km north-east of Paris on the main line of the Eastern railway to Strasbourg...
to England. During periods of enforced leisure Wyld used the free time to draw and paint with his friend right across France, from Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...
to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
and meeting Horace Vernet
Horace Vernet
Émile Jean-Horace Vernet was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist Arab subjects.Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famous painter, who was himself a son of Claude Joseph Vernet. He was born in the Paris Louvre, while his parents were staying there during the French...
, then at the height of his fame.
Wyld worked for 6 years as a champagne merchant from 1827 to 1833, making use of the job's opportunities to network with the local artistocracy and to become well-versed in viticulture. He always wished to become a painter but delayed setting out on that course to allow his younger brother to come of age first so that he could succeed him in the wine business. With his friend the Baron de Vialar he then set out for Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. The Baron fell in love with the country, bought a house there (where Wyld stayed six months) and became a member of the Conseil Général. This country had only been conquered in 1830 and had already been visited some time ago by Isabey
Jean-Baptiste Isabey
Jean-Baptiste Isabey was a French painter born at Nancy.At nineteen, after some lessons from Dumont, miniature painter to Marie Antoinette, he became a pupil of Jacques-Louis David...
and Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
. Wyld was about to leave the country when he learned that Vernet was on board a warship anchored in the bay of Algiers en route to Rome to take up his new post as director of the Académie de France
French Academy in Rome
The French Academy in Rome is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio in Rome, Italy.-History:...
- the two men had only seen each other once in 6 years. Wyld presented himself on board the ship, was immediately recognised by Vernet and encouraged by him to become a painter, Vernet never having doubted that Wyld would one day do so. He proposed that Wyld come with him to Rome in an official fashion and promised to find him some means of support there
Arriving in Rome, Wyld received commissions for orientalist
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
paintings from Vernet's entourage, including from the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish-Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life in Italy . Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he was eleven years old...
, whose portrait Vernet had painted some years earlier. Admiring Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
and Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, after 6 months in Rome Wyld decided to make a tour of the whole of Italy on foot with a companion (apparently Émile-Aubert Lessore
Émile-Aubert Lessore
Émile-Aubert Lessore or Lessorre was a French painter. See also Emile Lessore.-Bibliography:* Le journal des Goncourt, Vol IV, page 135 ;* Explication des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture,architecture,gravure et.....
). On 1 January 1834, they crossed the Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass
Simplon Pass is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont . The pass itself and the villages on each side of it, such as Gondo, are in Switzerland...
in a cart during a snowstorm and he then set up his studio in Paris, where he was commissioned to produce paintings of orientalist scenes and Venetian architecture. Becoming known to the public, he exhibited a 2m wide canvas "Venice at Sunrise" at the Paris Salon
Paris Salon
The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...
of 1839, winning the 1st Gold Medal in the 3rd class for it.
Thanks to Vernet he mingled in the highest artistic circles of the July Monarchy
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
and became friends with Ary Scheffer
Ary Scheffer
Ary Scheffer , French painter of Dutch and German extraction, was born in Dordrecht.-Life:After the early death of his father Johann Baptist, a poor painter, Ary's mother Cornelia, herself a painter and daughter of landscapist Arie Lamme, took him to Paris and placed him in the studio of...
and Paul Delaroche (even though Scheffer and Delaroche would not talk to each other). He seems to have made another foreign trip in 1844, to Algeria and Egypt. In 1845 he travelled to Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, where he built friendships, in particular with the Comtesse de Tromelin, born Mathilde Devin de Belleville in 1813, with whom he stayed and to whom he dedicated his "Chemin à Ploujean" (in a dedication that attests to the strength of their relationship)
Fougères
Fougères is a commune and a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany, in north-western France.-Sights:Fougères' major monument is a medieval stronghold built atop a granite ledge, which was part of the ultimately unsuccessful defence system of the Duchy of Brittany against...
in Ille-et-Vilaine
Ille-et-Vilaine
Ille-et-Vilaine is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country.- History :Ille-et-Vilaine is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
then at Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
in Finistère
Finistère
Finistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...
. After the 1848 Revolution
French Revolution of 1848
The 1848 Revolution in France was one of a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In France, the February revolution ended the Orleans monarchy and led to the creation of the French Second Republic. The February Revolution was really the belated second phase of the Revolution of 1830...
he returned to the United Kingdom where he specialized in orientalist subjects, became a member of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours , initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, , is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London.-History:In 1831 the society was founded as the New Society of Painters in Water...
and had a major success with the businessmen of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, making paintings crammed full of detail for them. In 1851 his admirer Queen Victoria commissioned paintings of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Manchester to celebrate her visit there, which remain in the Royal Collection
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
along with examples of his orientalist works. His View of Manchester has become an iconic image of the 19th-Century Cottonopolis
Cottonopolis
Cottonopolis denotes a metropolis of cotton and cotton mills. It was inspired by Manchester, in England, and its status as the international centre of the cotton and textile processing industries during the 19th century...
. In 1852 the Queen invited him to her summer residence at Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...
to draw its surroundings. He then continued to live in Paris and exhibit at various salons. He was invited to the festivities for Queen Victoria's visit to France in 1855 (the first by a British head of state since 1520), at which he produced a monumental view of château de Saint-Cloud
Château de Saint-Cloud
The Château de Saint-Cloud was a Palace in France, built on a magnificent site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about 10 kilometres west of Paris. Today it is a large park on the outskirts of the capital and is owned by the state, but the area as a whole has had a large...
. He participated in the 1855 Exposition
Exposition Universelle (1855)
The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...
in the Pavillon des Arts at the request of Comte Émilien de Nieuwerkerke
Émilien de Nieuwerkerke
Count Alfred Émilien O'Hara van Nieuwerkerke was a French sculptor of Dutch descent and a high-level civil servant in the Second French Empire...
, effectively French arts minister, on which occasion he was given the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. He remained active until his last breath, dying in his Paris home in 1889.
Works
- "The Tivoli Falls" - V&A Museum
- "The Tuileries", "The Panthéon" - Musée Carnavalet, Paris
- "Rive Schiavoni in Venice" - Birkenhead Williamson Art Gallery and Museum
- "St Cloud", watercolour - San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, California
- "Nuremberg" gouache, watercolour on paper - Harris MuseumHarris MuseumThe Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Preston Free Public Library is a Grade I listed museum building in Preston and has the largest gallery space in Lancashire, England.- History :...
, Preston
Museums holding his works
- Windsor CastleWindsor CastleWindsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
- Musée des Jacobins at MorlaixMorlaixMorlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
(29) FinistèreFinistèreFinistère is a département of France, in the extreme west of Brittany.-History:The name Finistère derives from the Latin Finis Terræ, meaning end of the earth, and may be compared with Land's End on the opposite side of the English Channel...