Regency Portraits Catalogue
Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841), Painter
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
1803-4
Oil self-portrait in Scottish NPG (584), the 'Archbishop of York's portrait', half-length with his hair cut in a fringe; identity doubtful, Wilkie's hair at this age being cut en brosse.
1803
Small pencil drawing self-portrait dated 1803, in Duke of Buccleuch's collection (Scottish NPG Catalogue, 1909, p 245).
1804-6
Oil self-portrait in Scottish NPG. This is probably the portrait given by Wilkie to Sir William Knighton and in his son's sale, 23 May 1885 (437); given by John Rankin in 1898.
1805-7
Oil by Opie in 'Bone and Opie Exhibition' Truro 1951 (43) with no information in the catalogue but probably the portrait at Christie's (W. Anthony sale) 20 February 1871 and 24 November 1894, see Earlom, Opie, 1911, p 323, half-length, his hand covering his mouth.
1805-8
Oil by Jackson in Paul Mellon Collection (H. C. Morgan unpublished thesis on John Jackson, p 276); probably also to this date belongs the red chalk drawing in the Tate Gallery (2279), though the signature: John Jackson R.A. del would certainly have been added later, Jackson becoming RA in 1817.
c.1805
Oil by George Dawe of Wilkie as a young man with curly hair in a blue coat standing by an easel holding a palette, Christie's 4 May 1901 (pencil sketch in NPG copy of catalogue).
1807-8
Drawing by J. Roberts known from Meyer's stipple engraving published in The Cabinet, 1 July 1808.
1807
Drawing by Haydon reproduced in Correspondence and Table Talk, 1867, I, p 252.
Pencil drawing by Jackson in British Museum (Laurence Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists … in the British Museum, III, 5).
1808
Oil by Beechey in Scottish NPG (251), exhibited RA 1809 (93) and mezzotint by John Young 1810. Wilkie records sitting to Beechey in his Diary, 5 November and 1 December 1808. Wilkie sale, Christie's 21 June 1860 (389).
Two miniatures by Andrew Robertson exhibited RA 1809 (629) and 1810 (650), one later in Jeffery Whitehead collection, three-quarter-length seated in a tam-o'-shanter with palette, reproduced Foster, Miniature Painters, 1903, I, p 86 and see Allan Cunningham, Life of Sir David Wilkie, 1843, I, pp 177 ff.
c.1809
Watercolour drawing by Hunt (NPG 2770).
1810-12
Oil by J. Watson Gordon at Port Sunlight (2129), half-length drawing in a book with a crayon, undated but aged about 25.
c.1810
Drawing by John Jackson (NPG 3154).
1812
Miniature by E. Westoby at Christie's 2 November 1971 (16) bought Hall, head and shoulders smiling in fancy dress, Jacobean ruff, black coat and scarlet cloak.
c.1812
Drawing by Harlow at Christie's 11 March 1825 (36); an etching of this by Mrs Dawson Turner is in the NPG Dawson Turner collection (51).
Miniature by Mrs Jane Read, Sotheby's (McKechnie sale) 30 July 1979 (157), profile to left painted on glass.
1813
Oil self-portrait (NPG 53).
1815
Life-mask by Haydon and others; possibly this is the mask by 'Smith a Phrenologist' in the Scottish NPG (181).
1816
Oil on panel by Andrew Geddes in Scottish NPG, exhibited RA 1816 (191) and 'British Portraits' RA 1956-7 (390), a whole-length standing in a flowery dressing-gown leaning on a magnificently upholstered armchair, 'the only characteristic likeness of that eminent painter' (Adela Geddes, Memories, 1844, p 12); mezzotint by W. Ward 1818.
Drawing by Haydon (NPG 2423).
1826-9
Oil by Colvin Smith painted in Rome and exhibited Edinburgh 1828 (17) and RA 1829 (231); Wilkie was in Rome from December 1826 to April 1827 and was the hero of a public dinner given to him by the Scottish artists in Rome on if January 1827.
Group by P. C. Wonder (NPG 795).
1826
Watercolour self-portrait in Sir Gardner Engleheart collection in 1923.
Drawing by Vogel in Dresden, head and shoulders dated: Dresden 2 July 1826.
1827
Drawing by Amélie Munier-Romilly lithographed in 1836 by R. J. Lane with an appreciative letter to Lane from Wilkie asking that Madame Munier's name and Genoa 1827 be inserted below the lithograph (Lane MSS LO I 36 in NPG archive).
c.1827
Drawing by J. Hollins 'in masquerade costume drawn at Rome' exhibited RA 1828 (571).
1829
Oil by Phillips (signed: TP (monogram) 1829) in the Tate Gallery (183); replica or original, painted for Duke of Buccleuch and also dated 1829, in Scottish NPG (719); small mezzotint by McInnes used as frontispiece to the Life of Sir David Wilkie by Cunningham; an enamel copy by W. Essex exhibited RA 1837 (656).
c.1833
Marble bust by Rennie exhibited RA 1833 (1185) in Wilkie sale at Christie's 20 June 1860 (390) bought by Mrs Hunter.
1840
Oil self-portrait lent by Colonel David Wilkie to Exhibition of the Royal House of Guelph, New Gallery, 1891 (285), half-length life-size in brown coat, left unfinished on his departure for the Middle East (see NPG 53).
c.1840
Oil self-portrait in Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau, unfinished, nearly half-length in scarlet robe of Hon. DCL (Oxford), white collar and tie, brown eyes; this was painted for Sir Robert Peel April-July 1840, lent by him to British Institution in 1842 and in the Peel Heirloom sale, Robinson & Fisher, 10 May 1900 (200) with descriptive notes in the NPG copy of the catalogue.
Undated
Watercolour drawing by John Faed in London International Exhibition 1874 (225) and possibly the miniature on paper signed: TF, exhibited SKM 1865 (3076) lent by J. Meyer.
Sketch by A. Chalon (with J. Chalon and Clarkson Stanfield) at Christie's 13 March 1861 (357).
Drawing by Maclise in V&A Museum, Foster Collection (F88).
Oil by Raeburn formerly in the library at Chesterfield House, London, now possibly at Harewood or Dochfour House, Inverness (Lord Burton).
Plaster sketch by Musgrave Watson in his studio sale, 14 September 1848 (Henry Lonsdale, Musgrave Lewthwaite Watson, 1866, pp 187-9). Possibly the statuette in a long black cloak holding brushes and palette, offered to the NPG in 1950.
Oil in William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley, South Africa (Catalogue 1955, no.36), identity doubtful.
Oil self-portrait, '... a very interesting self-portrait, an early work distinguished by firmness and felicitously rapid and full touches ... In the background appears the farmhouse at Cults, with the village itself on the slope of a hill and under a lowering grey sky. The picture was bought at Wilkie's sale' (The Athenaeum, 25 September 1886, p 408 on the collection of Mr Gray Hill, Mere Hall, Oxton-by-Nortorum, Birkenhead).
Oil self-portrait in Earl of Dunmore sale at Christie's 15 January 1887 (305), see Lugt 46191; black chalk and two pen and ink drawings at Christie's (Wilkie sale) 21 June 1860 (267).
Posthumous
Watercolour drawing by George Jones, 'The Burial at Sea of Sir David Wilkie on his return from the Holy Land 1 June 1841' lent to the Wilkie Exhibition, National Gallery of Scotland 1958 (118) by Brinsley Ford.
1842
Marble bust by S. Joseph dated 1842 in Scottish NPG (1220).
1843
Statue by Joseph dated 1843 in Tate Gallery, with a small plaster statuette model in the Ashmolean Museum.
Marble monument by Joseph in Cults parish church was designed to match Chantrey's monument of 1833 to Wilkie's parents, the Rev David and Isabella Wilkie, in the same church.
Medallion by L. C. Wyon issued by the Art Union in 1861; a bronze copy of 1875 is in NPG Reference Collection.
Doubtful and spurious
Pencil self-portrait in Victor Spark collection, New York, offered to NPG in 1978 and said to have been in the Wilkie sale; it bears some resemblance to Scottish NPG no.573; the paper is watermarked: J WHATMAN 1806.
Watercolour drawing by S. P. Denning at Christie's 23 January 1978 (116).
Drawing by James Ward at Christie's 6 June 1967 (134), whole-length of an old man.
Drawing by Landseer among eleven studies of heads at Christie's 15 July 1958 (236).
Oil 'self-portrait' in Mrs Wardwell collection USA, reproduced Connoisseur, CXIX, 1947, p 113, half-length seated to right with sketchbook and porte-crayon.
Oil self-portrait at Bowhill (Duke of Buccleuch), head and shoulders on canvas stretched on panel.
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
Oil self-portrait in Scottish NPG (584), the 'Archbishop of York's portrait', half-length with his hair cut in a fringe; identity doubtful, Wilkie's hair at this age being cut en brosse.
1803
Small pencil drawing self-portrait dated 1803, in Duke of Buccleuch's collection (Scottish NPG Catalogue, 1909, p 245).
1804-6
Oil self-portrait in Scottish NPG. This is probably the portrait given by Wilkie to Sir William Knighton and in his son's sale, 23 May 1885 (437); given by John Rankin in 1898.
1805-7
Oil by Opie in 'Bone and Opie Exhibition' Truro 1951 (43) with no information in the catalogue but probably the portrait at Christie's (W. Anthony sale) 20 February 1871 and 24 November 1894, see Earlom, Opie, 1911, p 323, half-length, his hand covering his mouth.
1805-8
Oil by Jackson in Paul Mellon Collection (H. C. Morgan unpublished thesis on John Jackson, p 276); probably also to this date belongs the red chalk drawing in the Tate Gallery (2279), though the signature: John Jackson R.A. del would certainly have been added later, Jackson becoming RA in 1817.
c.1805
Oil by George Dawe of Wilkie as a young man with curly hair in a blue coat standing by an easel holding a palette, Christie's 4 May 1901 (pencil sketch in NPG copy of catalogue).
1807-8
Drawing by J. Roberts known from Meyer's stipple engraving published in The Cabinet, 1 July 1808.
1807
Drawing by Haydon reproduced in Correspondence and Table Talk, 1867, I, p 252.
Pencil drawing by Jackson in British Museum (Laurence Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists … in the British Museum, III, 5).
1808
Oil by Beechey in Scottish NPG (251), exhibited RA 1809 (93) and mezzotint by John Young 1810. Wilkie records sitting to Beechey in his Diary, 5 November and 1 December 1808. Wilkie sale, Christie's 21 June 1860 (389).
Two miniatures by Andrew Robertson exhibited RA 1809 (629) and 1810 (650), one later in Jeffery Whitehead collection, three-quarter-length seated in a tam-o'-shanter with palette, reproduced Foster, Miniature Painters, 1903, I, p 86 and see Allan Cunningham, Life of Sir David Wilkie, 1843, I, pp 177 ff.
c.1809
Watercolour drawing by Hunt (NPG 2770).
1810-12
Oil by J. Watson Gordon at Port Sunlight (2129), half-length drawing in a book with a crayon, undated but aged about 25.
c.1810
Drawing by John Jackson (NPG 3154).
1812
Miniature by E. Westoby at Christie's 2 November 1971 (16) bought Hall, head and shoulders smiling in fancy dress, Jacobean ruff, black coat and scarlet cloak.
c.1812
Drawing by Harlow at Christie's 11 March 1825 (36); an etching of this by Mrs Dawson Turner is in the NPG Dawson Turner collection (51).
Miniature by Mrs Jane Read, Sotheby's (McKechnie sale) 30 July 1979 (157), profile to left painted on glass.
1813
Oil self-portrait (NPG 53).
1815
Life-mask by Haydon and others; possibly this is the mask by 'Smith a Phrenologist' in the Scottish NPG (181).
1816
Oil on panel by Andrew Geddes in Scottish NPG, exhibited RA 1816 (191) and 'British Portraits' RA 1956-7 (390), a whole-length standing in a flowery dressing-gown leaning on a magnificently upholstered armchair, 'the only characteristic likeness of that eminent painter' (Adela Geddes, Memories, 1844, p 12); mezzotint by W. Ward 1818.
Drawing by Haydon (NPG 2423).
1826-9
Oil by Colvin Smith painted in Rome and exhibited Edinburgh 1828 (17) and RA 1829 (231); Wilkie was in Rome from December 1826 to April 1827 and was the hero of a public dinner given to him by the Scottish artists in Rome on if January 1827.
Group by P. C. Wonder (NPG 795).
1826
Watercolour self-portrait in Sir Gardner Engleheart collection in 1923.
Drawing by Vogel in Dresden, head and shoulders dated: Dresden 2 July 1826.
1827
Drawing by Amélie Munier-Romilly lithographed in 1836 by R. J. Lane with an appreciative letter to Lane from Wilkie asking that Madame Munier's name and Genoa 1827 be inserted below the lithograph (Lane MSS LO I 36 in NPG archive).
c.1827
Drawing by J. Hollins 'in masquerade costume drawn at Rome' exhibited RA 1828 (571).
1829
Oil by Phillips (signed: TP (monogram) 1829) in the Tate Gallery (183); replica or original, painted for Duke of Buccleuch and also dated 1829, in Scottish NPG (719); small mezzotint by McInnes used as frontispiece to the Life of Sir David Wilkie by Cunningham; an enamel copy by W. Essex exhibited RA 1837 (656).
c.1833
Marble bust by Rennie exhibited RA 1833 (1185) in Wilkie sale at Christie's 20 June 1860 (390) bought by Mrs Hunter.
1840
Oil self-portrait lent by Colonel David Wilkie to Exhibition of the Royal House of Guelph, New Gallery, 1891 (285), half-length life-size in brown coat, left unfinished on his departure for the Middle East (see NPG 53).
c.1840
Oil self-portrait in Musée des Beaux-Arts, Pau, unfinished, nearly half-length in scarlet robe of Hon. DCL (Oxford), white collar and tie, brown eyes; this was painted for Sir Robert Peel April-July 1840, lent by him to British Institution in 1842 and in the Peel Heirloom sale, Robinson & Fisher, 10 May 1900 (200) with descriptive notes in the NPG copy of the catalogue.
Undated
Watercolour drawing by John Faed in London International Exhibition 1874 (225) and possibly the miniature on paper signed: TF, exhibited SKM 1865 (3076) lent by J. Meyer.
Sketch by A. Chalon (with J. Chalon and Clarkson Stanfield) at Christie's 13 March 1861 (357).
Drawing by Maclise in V&A Museum, Foster Collection (F88).
Oil by Raeburn formerly in the library at Chesterfield House, London, now possibly at Harewood or Dochfour House, Inverness (Lord Burton).
Plaster sketch by Musgrave Watson in his studio sale, 14 September 1848 (Henry Lonsdale, Musgrave Lewthwaite Watson, 1866, pp 187-9). Possibly the statuette in a long black cloak holding brushes and palette, offered to the NPG in 1950.
Oil in William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley, South Africa (Catalogue 1955, no.36), identity doubtful.
Oil self-portrait, '... a very interesting self-portrait, an early work distinguished by firmness and felicitously rapid and full touches ... In the background appears the farmhouse at Cults, with the village itself on the slope of a hill and under a lowering grey sky. The picture was bought at Wilkie's sale' (The Athenaeum, 25 September 1886, p 408 on the collection of Mr Gray Hill, Mere Hall, Oxton-by-Nortorum, Birkenhead).
Oil self-portrait in Earl of Dunmore sale at Christie's 15 January 1887 (305), see Lugt 46191; black chalk and two pen and ink drawings at Christie's (Wilkie sale) 21 June 1860 (267).
Posthumous
Watercolour drawing by George Jones, 'The Burial at Sea of Sir David Wilkie on his return from the Holy Land 1 June 1841' lent to the Wilkie Exhibition, National Gallery of Scotland 1958 (118) by Brinsley Ford.
1842
Marble bust by S. Joseph dated 1842 in Scottish NPG (1220).
1843
Statue by Joseph dated 1843 in Tate Gallery, with a small plaster statuette model in the Ashmolean Museum.
Marble monument by Joseph in Cults parish church was designed to match Chantrey's monument of 1833 to Wilkie's parents, the Rev David and Isabella Wilkie, in the same church.
Medallion by L. C. Wyon issued by the Art Union in 1861; a bronze copy of 1875 is in NPG Reference Collection.
Doubtful and spurious
Pencil self-portrait in Victor Spark collection, New York, offered to NPG in 1978 and said to have been in the Wilkie sale; it bears some resemblance to Scottish NPG no.573; the paper is watermarked: J WHATMAN 1806.
Watercolour drawing by S. P. Denning at Christie's 23 January 1978 (116).
Drawing by James Ward at Christie's 6 June 1967 (134), whole-length of an old man.
Drawing by Landseer among eleven studies of heads at Christie's 15 July 1958 (236).
Oil 'self-portrait' in Mrs Wardwell collection USA, reproduced Connoisseur, CXIX, 1947, p 113, half-length seated to right with sketchbook and porte-crayon.
Oil self-portrait at Bowhill (Duke of Buccleuch), head and shoulders on canvas stretched on panel.
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.