Thomas Phillips

Sir David Wilkie, R.A.

1829

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Not on display
Artist
Thomas Phillips 1770–1845
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 997 x 762 mm
frame: 1315 x 1082 x 132 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by the artist 1842
Reference
N00183

Display caption

David Wilkie was born in Scotland into a poor family, but became one of the great artistic success-stories of the early nineteenth century. He achieved virtually overnight success in London in the 1800s with sentimental, narrative paintings of rural life in his homeland.

By the time Phillips painted this portrait, Wilkie had spent several years touring Europe, and had turned to literary and historical subjects of a more conventional character. The abstracted, gloomy setting, and the painter’s glancing expression suggest an inspired, poetic personality.

Gallery label, September 2004

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