:The Yale Center for British Art is presenting an exhibition
tracing the brilliant and tumultuous career of late Eighteenth
Century painter Francis Wheatley. "The Worlds of Francis
Wheatley," August 31-December 31, is the first US exhibition of
Wheatley's work and features 59 pieces drawn from the center's
collection of paintings, prints and rare books.
In addition to Wheatley's oil paintings and evocative and
delicate watercolors, this exhibition will also include
reproductive prints after Wheatley's paintings. "The Worlds of
Francis Wheatley" will explore not only Wheat-ley's career, but
also the status of paintings and prints of the Eighteenth
Century.
Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) inhabited myriad artistic and social
worlds during his career: Georgian London and rural Ireland, the
high life of his wealthy clients and the marginal world of the
theater, the Royal Academy and the print shop. His artistic
output was equally broad, encompassing printmaking, portraiture,
genre painting and history painting.
Wheatley excelled in each of these areas, despite great personal
and financial difficulties. Contemporary commentary reveals that
he was a mercurial individual, probably a gambler and certainly a
dandy. In 1779, after being elected to the prestigious Royal
Academy of Arts, Wheatley fled London with another man's wife,
living in Dublin for several years in a sham marriage. An
acquaintance noted that after becoming addicted to the high life
of Georgian London, Wheatley found it difficult to "live in
accordance with his means."
Wheatley is best known to visitors to the center for his group
portraits, or "conversation pieces," particularly the masterful
"The Oliver and Ward Families" and "The Browne Family." The first
section of the exhibition explores these important works, looking
in particular at how Wheatley responded to his clients' desires
by portraying middle-class merchants and bankers in the trappings
of country gentlemen.
Wheatley's career in Ireland makes up the second part of the
exhibition. During this period of artistic freedom, Wheatley
moved beyond studio portraiture to create some of his most
important works. Sketching and painting watercolors out-of-doors,
Wheatley focused his attention on the peasants and rural poor
living outside of Dublin and in the process gathered material
that would serve him for the rest of his career.
Returning to London in 1783, Wheatley immersed himself in the
late Georgian art world. He began to create paintings for the
reproductive print market and consequently expanded his subject
matter to include contemporary events and historical and literary
scenes. The peasant figures from Wheatley's Irish sketches were
reformulated to serve the artist's burgeoning career as a painter
of sentimental rustic genre scenes. Wheatley's depictions of
peasant life were tinged with morality and eroticism in equal
measure and they were immensely popular with the print-buying
public. His greatest success in the print market was his series
"The Cries of London," and the exhibition ends with a
comprehensive display of these works.
The Yale Center for British Art is at 1080 Chapel Street. For
information, 203-432-2800 or www.yale.edu/ycba.
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