[ ... ] a number of middle class patrons seem to have been active collectors of landscapes by English artists for their own sakes rather than merely as decoration during this early period. [ ... ] (p. 257)
Probably the most important of these patrons was Jonathan Tyers, the founder and proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens who, according to [Henry] Angelo became one of the earliest patrons of Wilson. (n. 25 Reminiscences, vol. 1, 1828, p. 151). (p. 257)
[ ... ] No surviving Wilson has a provenance stretching back to Tyers. (p. 257)
Charles Jennens [ ... ] had a notable collection of Dutch landscapes in his town house in Ormond Street by 1761 [ ... ] and he also possessed pictures by Wootton, Lambert, Gainsborough and Wilson. [ ... ] Thomas Green, the political writer, is known to have bought landscapes direct from Bond, Nelson, Marlow and Wilson [P131B] at various dates between 1760 and 1768. A certain Mr Hamilton had three Wilsons and landcapes by Skelton, Smith of Chichester, Tull and Marlow in his house in the King's Mews, Charing Cross, before they were sold in 1765. And at Thomas Bradford's sale in the same year there were no fewer than twelve landscapes by the Smiths of Chichester, as well as examples by Wilson, Collins and Tull. (p. 258)
