William Wyld. William Wyld was an English painter.
Born to a family that had produced rich merchants for several generations, he gained a pronounced taste for drawing very young. On the death of a young uncle after a fall from a horse when William was aged 6, William inherited his drawing materials.
Aged 20, he lost his father but family relations allowed him to be made secretary to the British Consulate in Calais thanks to the statesman George Canning. There he served lord Granville and got to know the watercolourist François Louis Thomas Francia, then living in Calais, and studied under him.
When his family's protector, Canning, died on 8 August 1827 it became clear Wyld's diplomatic career could proceed no higher since he had interrupted his studies too soon. One of his friends was John Lewis Brown, active in commerce and also a major collector of Bonington's watercolours, and Brown gained him an opportunity to work as a wine merchant exporting champagne from Épernay to England.
During periods of enforced leisure Wyld used the free time to draw and paint with his friend right across France, from Dieppe to Rouen and meeting Horace Vernet, then at the height of his fame. Wyld worked for 6 years as a champagne merchant from 1827 to 1833, making use of the job's opportunities to network with the local artistocracy and to become well-versed in viticulture. He always wished to become a painter
Born to a family that had produced rich merchants for several generations, he gained a pronounced taste for drawing very young. On the death of a young uncle after a fall from a horse when William was aged 6, William inherited his drawing materials.
Aged 20, he lost his father but family relations allowed him to be made secretary to the British Consulate in Calais thanks to the statesman George Canning. There he served lord Granville and got to know the watercolourist François Louis Thomas Francia, then living in Calais, and studied under him.
When his family's protector, Canning, died on 8 August 1827 it became clear Wyld's diplomatic career could proceed no higher since he had interrupted his studies too soon. One of his friends was John Lewis Brown, active in commerce and also a major collector of Bonington's watercolours, and Brown gained him an opportunity to work as a wine merchant exporting champagne from Épernay to England.
During periods of enforced leisure Wyld used the free time to draw and paint with his friend right across France, from Dieppe to Rouen and meeting Horace Vernet, then at the height of his fame. Wyld worked for 6 years as a champagne merchant from 1827 to 1833, making use of the job's opportunities to network with the local artistocracy and to become well-versed in viticulture. He always wished to become a painter
Wikipedia ...