Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice older book in good condition. Some tanning wear and marking due to age. Copy 250 of 500. Year 1947. Hardcover. English. See images for condition.

About the book >.>.> But what of the man himself? Who was he when did he live what was he like where did he touch hands with ordinary humanity? These are questions that interest all of us whether educated or not in art. What we know about Wilson’s personality derives in the main from T. Wright’s biography published in 1824 forty two years after the artist’s death. It is in no sense of the word a good biography but to assail Wright for his verbosity and occasional inconsistencies as some critics do is hardly fair. Wright was a learned enthusiast of painting and particularly of Wilson’s and being also an excellent amateur painter him-self his opinions are entitled to respect. That he had very little material to use was not Wright’s fault. The blame must attach to Wilson’s contemporaries who allowed the artist to sink into poverty and die in obscurity. Had Wright failed to put down what he had gleaned with some difficulty from people who knew Wilson the artist’s personality would be even more shadowy than it is. Perhaps the only man who could have written a full and authentic biography was Joseph Farington who was Wilson’s pupil and associated with him for many years. We could have wished that Farington had devoted some of the time spent on his voluminous diaries to telling us all about his great master. (MP)