Joseph Wilton
2 of 1368 portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Joseph Wilton
by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, 1752
30 in. x 23 1/2 in. (762 mm x 597 mm)
Purchased, 1970
Primary Collection
NPG 4810
Sitterback to top
- Joseph Wilton (1722-1803), Sculptor. Sitter in 9 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 7 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 1425 portraits, Sitter associated with 40 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Painted in Florence; this is one of the few portraits to survive from Reynolds's Italian journey (1749-52).
Linked publicationsback to top
- Hogarth, Reynolds, Turner : British painting and the rise of modernity, 2014, p. 195 number 49
- Smartify image discovery app
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 491
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 669
Events of 1752back to top
Current affairs
Calendar Act (also known as Chesterfield's Act after Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield) comes into force, abolishing the old Julian calendar and adopting the more accurate Gregorian calendar. The year now begins on 1st January rather than 25th March.Parliament passes a bill to bestow estates forfeited by Jacobites to the Crown and use the revenue to develop the Scottish Highlands.
Art and science
Artist William Hogarth publishes his influential book The Analysis of Beauty which presents his ideas about aesthetics.Charles Avison publishes Essay on Musical Expression; the first work of musical criticism published in English.
Obstetrician William Smellie introduces scientific midwifery.
International
Benjamin Franklin flies a kite into a thunder cloud to demonstrate the nature of electricity.Georgia becomes a royal colony; the last of the thirteen American colonies.
French seize or evict every English-speaking trader in the region of upper Ohio. Liberty Bell arrives in Philadelphia.
Robert Clive forces the surrender of French troops in the aftermath of the Siege of Trichinopoly in India.
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