Wilson Online Reference
Pilkington
Author
The Revd Matthew Pilkington
Title/Description
A Dictionary of Painters, from the Revival of the Art to the Present Period
Publisher
Printed by John Crowder for J. Johnson, R. Faulder, J. Walker, etc.
Country
London, UK
Date of Publication
1805
Printed/Manuscript
Primary published
More Information
'A new edition with considerable alterations, additions, an appendix and an index by Henry Fuseli, R.A.' Another edition was published in 1810. This included the well-known encomium by Fuseli (p. 620): 'Wilson is now numbered with the classics of the art, though little more than the fifth part of a century elapsed since death relieved him from the apathy of cognoscenti, the envy of rivals, and the neglect of a tasteless public; for Wilson, whose works will soon command prices as proud as those of Claude, Poussin, or Elzheimer, resembled the last most in his fate, lived and died nearer to indigence than ease, and, as an asylum from the severest wants incident to age and decay of powers, was reduced to solicit the Librarian's place in the Academy, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments.'