Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson (1714-1782), Welsh landscape painter, who introduced the European Neo-Classical style into British landscape painting. He was influenced, during a stay in Italy in the 1750s, by the calm, idealized classicism of the French landscapist Claude Lorrain. Wilson evolved a style of generalized grandeur that he applied to scenes of English country houses and to open spaces such as Snowdon (c. 1770, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). His paintings are noted for their effects of light and for the creation of a feeling of great spatial depth. His realistic sense of detail influenced later English landscapists such as John Constable and J. M. W. Turner.