Wilton, Joseph
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- Wilton, Joseph
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(1722 - 1803), sculptor, studied under his father in London, with Delvaux in Brabant and J.-B. Pigalle in Paris; dir. of the D. of Richmond's gallery in Whitehall; founder member RA 1768; exh. RA 1769 - 83; keeper RA 1790 - d.
1749 - 55 Rome (Jan. 1749 - Easter 1751 - ), Florence (1751 - 5) with visits to Rome [England 1755]
Wilton had lived some years on the Continent studying in Brabant and Paris, before he came to Italy. He said he went to Italy in 1747,1 but the earliest reference to him in Rome is Bubb Dodington's recommendation of him to Cardinal Albani on 4 January 1749.2 At Easter 1749 (and 1750 - 1) he was living in the Palazzo Zuccari on the Strada Felice with Patch, Simon Vierpyl and Matthew Brettingham.3
Wilton soon achieved success at Rome. In 1750 he received a gold medal at the Accademia di S.Luca for his Cain killing Abel,4 and he received commissions from Lord Malton, who was in Rome in 1749 and 1750, for copies of the Venus de Medici and a Faun.5 He was also favoured by William Lock of Norbury (who was in Rome by January 1752); they were said to have been 'inseparable companions' in Italy.6 According to Nollekens, however, Wilton had moved to Florence in 1751,7 and Wilton was elected to the Florentine Accademia del Disegno on 9 January 1752.8 In February 1752 he was about to return to Rome from Florence for a few days and was (unsuccessfully) seeking permission to have a cast made from a bust of Julius Caesar in the collection of the marchese Casali.9 Also in February 1752 arrangements were made for James Tyrrell to pay Wilton 300 crowns in three equal instalments on behalf of Ralph Howard.(10) In July 1753 Tyrrell had to tell Howard that Wilton 'promises to finish the Venus next autumn; there is a spot on the nose, for which I can find no remedy but that of the good old Gentleman Job'.(11)
Between May and July 1752 Joshua Reynolds had painted Wilton's portrait in Florence (NPG). By September 1753 Wilton, 'that ingenious modest sculptor,' was living in Horace Mann's guest house on the Via de' Bardi, and in November Mann was describing his work with approval: 'a statue he did at Rome, and a copy of the Venus which he made here [in Florence] for Lord Rockingham [Malton] gained him great applause. Swift's bust, an original [otherwise unrecorded, but possibly of Lord Chatham], and a most glorious one of Homer, with some others already in England, are proof of his abilities. He has finished another Venus [presumably that for Ralph Howard] which is admired by all the professors as well as connoisseurs here; a Bacchus for Lord Tylney of his own invention, far advanced, with many other works which will be seen in England'.(12)
In February 1754 Wilton was about to go to Rome ('in two or three weeks time') in an attempt to obtain a cast of an Apollo (presumably the Apollo Belvedere) from the architect Paul Posi in Rome; Albani was able to buy him a cast in March.(13) In 1755 Wilton carved the bust of Dr Cocchi (VAM), the only ad vivum bust he is known to have carved in Italy,14 and in January and February that year his existence was enlivened by the presence of Robert Adam, who had a letter of introduction from George Mercer, a mason in London. Together they went skating on the frozen Arno and Wilton took Adam round the museums, proving himself 'a very fine fellow' and 'an obliging companion'. Wilton introduced him to Cl?risseau and, with a young Swiss G.I. Ritter, they studied architecture together. Wilton also gave Adam (forlorn) advice on how best to spend his time in Italy: he should abandon 'the great ones' and after first seeing Rome he should go to Naples and return incognito 'and live private', studying and improving.15
Adam left Florence on 20 February 1755 and Wilton returned to England soon after, accompanied by the sculptor G.B. Capezzoli16 and, possibly, by Cipriani and William Chambers.17 Six years later James Adam said how disappointed Mann had been never to hear from Wilton after his return to England, 'so that with justice Sir Horace says he's a low born fellow without education or gratitude'18 but this opinion was not completely shared.
1. Farington Diary (14 Nov. 1795). 2. Lewis 1961, 155. 3. AVR sa, S.Andrea delle Fratte. 4. L. Perotta, L'Urbe, 1962, ii, 20. 5. H. Honour, Connoisseur, 141[1958]:224, 226n25. 6. Nollekens, 2:165n. 7. Nollekens, 2:166. Fleming, Adam, 347n. 8. Wynne 1990, 538. 9. Lewis 1961, 169. 10. Wicklow MSS (Jackson, Hart & Rutherfurd, 28 Feb. 1752). 11. Wicklow MSS (20 Jul. 1753). 12. Wal.Corr., 20:391 (7 Sep. 1753), 397 - 8 (9 Nov. 1753), 397n4. 13. Lewis 1961, 169 - 70. SP 105/310, f.251. 14. T.W.I. Hodgkinson, VAM Bull., Apr. 1967, 72 - 80. 15. Fleming, Adam, 133, 141. 16. J. Fleming and H. Honour, Festschrift Ulrich Middeldorf, 514n3. H. Honour, Connoisseur, 141[1958]:225. 17. See Fleming, Adam, 135, 347, 348. Nollekens, 2:166. 18. Fleming, Adam, 276.