Wilson Online Reference
Parsons
Name
William Parsons, 1736-1795
Connection to Wilson
Friend
Biographical Details
William Parsons was a comedian, actor and friend of Wilson, well known at the Drury Lane Theatre as the 'Comic Roscius'. He had begun an artistic career as a pupil of the sculptor Henry Cheere and is mentioned by Thomas Wright as a pupil of Wilson and amateur painter. He exhibited two fruit pieces at the Free Society in 1765 and a Landscape and Figures as an honorary exhibitor at the Society of Artists in 1773. Benjamin Booth describes him as a talented artist and he is recorded as owning several works by Wilson.
Patronage of Works
P72 Lake Nemi and Ganzano from the Terrace of the Capuchin Monastery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
P103 On the Tiber, Private Collection, England
P150 View near London, Private Collection, England
Significant institutions
Drury Lane Theatre
Free Society of Artists
Society of Artists