The British painter Francis Wheatley, son of a tailor, received formal training in painting, including at the Royal Academy of Arts. He received his first awards at an early age and developed throughout his life into one of Britain's most famous portrait and landscape painters. His exciting private life temporarily puts his artistic work in the background. His ambitious career was thrown off course when he ran away with the wife of a contemporary artist. He flees with her from the urban environment of London to rural Ireland. The social conventions of the time sharply condemn such behaviour.
In Ireland, however, Wheatley quickly made a name for himself as a portraitist and created one of his most famous works, the Irish House of Commons. The picture shows a detailed and vivid depiction of the members of the Irish Parliament in 1780. Otherwise, the portrait artist's clientele consists of successful middle-class merchants and bankers who like to be portrayed as country noblemen. Wheatley also works a lot in nature and outdoors, where he finds his motifs in the rural and poor population of Ireland outside Dublin. He collected a lot of inspiration, which he later used in London in his historical and rural art prints. During his travels across the island of Ireland he produced drawings, watercolours and oil paintings of important mansions and estates in Ireland.
When the secret of his private life is revealed, he returns to London. There, in addition to genre and portrait work, he continued to dedicate himself to landscape painting and the depiction of street scenes. In doing so he orientates himself on the work of Jean Baptiste Greuze. The French artist is associated with the rococo style and motifs of bourgeois life, which, however, are no longer contemporary in the mid-18th century. They are opposed to the ideas of the Enlightenment and go out of fashion. Wheatley paints various motifs for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. The gallery is designed to promote English history painting and is to culminate in an illustrated edition of the literary works of William Shakespeare, which are becoming popular again. Wheatley contributes illustrations for scenes in "All's Well, the Ends Well", the "Comedy of Errors" and "Love's Labour's Lost", among others. The audience is enthusiastic about the illustrations of Shakespeare's scenes. The reproduction of his works as art prints helped Wheatley to artistic success. He works mainly with watercolours and oil paints, but also experiments with mezzotints and makes etchings.
The British painter Francis Wheatley, son of a tailor, received formal training in painting, including at the Royal Academy of Arts. He received his first awards at an early age and developed throughout his life into one of Britain's most famous portrait and landscape painters. His exciting private life temporarily puts his artistic work in the background. His ambitious career was thrown off course when he ran away with the wife of a contemporary artist. He flees with her from the urban environment of London to rural Ireland. The social conventions of the time sharply condemn such behaviour.
In Ireland, however, Wheatley quickly made a name for himself as a portraitist and created one of his most famous works, the Irish House of Commons. The picture shows a detailed and vivid depiction of the members of the Irish Parliament in 1780. Otherwise, the portrait artist's clientele consists of successful middle-class merchants and bankers who like to be portrayed as country noblemen. Wheatley also works a lot in nature and outdoors, where he finds his motifs in the rural and poor population of Ireland outside Dublin. He collected a lot of inspiration, which he later used in London in his historical and rural art prints. During his travels across the island of Ireland he produced drawings, watercolours and oil paintings of important mansions and estates in Ireland.
When the secret of his private life is revealed, he returns to London. There, in addition to genre and portrait work, he continued to dedicate himself to landscape painting and the depiction of street scenes. In doing so he orientates himself on the work of Jean Baptiste Greuze. The French artist is associated with the rococo style and motifs of bourgeois life, which, however, are no longer contemporary in the mid-18th century. They are opposed to the ideas of the Enlightenment and go out of fashion. Wheatley paints various motifs for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. The gallery is designed to promote English history painting and is to culminate in an illustrated edition of the literary works of William Shakespeare, which are becoming popular again. Wheatley contributes illustrations for scenes in "All's Well, the Ends Well", the "Comedy of Errors" and "Love's Labour's Lost", among others. The audience is enthusiastic about the illustrations of Shakespeare's scenes. The reproduction of his works as art prints helped Wheatley to artistic success. He works mainly with watercolours and oil paints, but also experiments with mezzotints and makes etchings.
Page 1 / 2