Wilson Online Reference
Young
Name
Sir William Young, 1725-1788
Connection to Wilson
Patron
Biographical Details
Sir William Young, Bart, lived at Standlynch House, Wiltshire, where he commissioned four paintings from Wilson between 1757 and 1766, including the three below. The pictures were all of similar size and were possibly designed as overdoors for Standlynch. However, although Young sold the house and contents in 1766, they were still in his possession at his death in 1788 so must have been removed by him. Standlynch House was built between 1731 and 1734 and was acquired by Young in 1752. It was bought by Henry Dawkins in 1766 and later presented by the nation to the family of Admiral Lord Nelson, after which it became known as Trafalgar House. Young bought the manor of Delaford in Iver, Buckinghamshire in 1767.

Young owned sugar plantations in Antigua, St Vincent and Tobago. He was travelling in Italy in 1752 and 1753, may have encountered Wilson and certainly knew Lord Dartmouth there. He was described by Horace Mann as 'a roaring rich West Indian ... [who] buys pictures on his own judgement and declares it to be better than anybody's.' He returned to the West Indies in 1764, served as Lieutenant-Governor of Antigua from 1768-74 and was made a baronet in 1769. He died heavily indebted in Antigua. (See further R. Beresford, Catalogue of European Paintings, Art Gallery of New South Wales, vol. 1, 2014, pp. 149-52). There is a group portrait by Johan Zoffany of Young and his family, (c.1767-69) in the Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool (2395).
Patronage of Works
P57A St Peter's and the Vatican from the Janiculum, Art Gallery of New South Wales
Rome from the Villa Madama, location unknown
Landscape with Diana and Callisto, location unknown
Updated by Compiler
2016-02-26 00:00:00