Richard Wilson letter,

A holograph letter, 8 July 1751, from the painter Richard Wilson, Venice, to [Admiral] Thomas Smith, London, touching on Wilson's studies of Titian, Francesco Zuccarelli, his portrait of the German ambassador, and various acquaintances in Venice (ff. 3-4). Also included is a letter, 7 November 1750, from the painter's sister E[lizabeth] Wilson, Bristol, to Smith, apparently on behalf of her brother, concerning a dispute with a Mr Harris arising from 'the pictures of the two Miss Jenkins' (ff. 1-2).
Both letters were first published in Maud M. Wyndham, Chronicles of the Eighteenth Century: Founded on the Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lyttelton and his Family, 2 vols (London, 1924), II, 66-69; they have subsequently seen print in Adrian Bury, Richard Wilson, R.A.: The Grand Classic (Leigh-on-Sea, 1947), pp. 17-18, W. G. Constable, Richard Wilson (London, 1953), pp. 19-22, and elsewhere. This is one of only three holograph Richard Wilson letters known to exist (see Constable, pp. 1, 13).

Arranged chronologically at NLW.

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Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lot 79; 12 December 1978

Title based on contents.

Pencil annotations, in a twentieth-century hand, are on ff. 1 and 3.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 15478C.

November 2007 and May 2014.

Description compiled by Bethan Ifans and revised by Rhys Morgan Jones;

Usual copyright laws apply.

Admiral Smith was the illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton (1688-1751) and the letters remained in the possession of the Lyttelton family, Viscounts Cobham, until the sale of the family archive by the 11th Viscount in the Sotheby's auction of 1978.

Maud M. Wyndham, Chronicles of the Eighteenth Century: Founded on the Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lyttelton and his Family, 2 vols (London, 1924), II.

Adrian Bury, Richard Wilson, R.A.: The Grand Classic (Leigh-on-Sea, 1947)

W. G. Constable, Richard Wilson (London, 1953)

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales