Ralph Howard was the eldest son of Robert Howard (1683-1740) Bishop of Killala and his wife, Patience, of Shelton Abbey, Co. Wicklow. Graduating from Trinity College, Dubln in 1747 he was later a member of the Irish Parliament and Privy Council and was created Baron Clonmore in 1776 and Viscount Wicklow in 1785. From 1751-52 he made his Grand Tour during which he commissioned or acquired a number of paintings from Italian and foreign artists, usually on the advice of his agent, James Russel. These included the eight works by Wilson listed below. They may have been contained in two cases referred to in a letter from Russel to Howard dated 16 January 1753 as having been sent to Messrs Jackson, Hart and Rutherford, merchants at Leghorn. (See further, Ingamells 1997, pp. 528-30). Howard's portrait by Pompeo Batoni is in the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (1960.8; Clark & Bowron 1985, pp. 254-55, cat. 165).
