Richard Wilson RA (1714–1782) was an influential Welsh landscape painter, who is considered the ’father’ of British landscape painting, and was a major influence on J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. The earliest major British painter to concentrate on landscape, he is particularly known for his Italianate landscapes, influenced by the grand classical style of Poussin, Claude and Zuccarelli.

Richard Wilson was born in Penegoes, Montgomeryshire but moved to London in 1729 to train under Thomas Wright. In 1750 he left London for Rome where he remained until 1757, and it was this period in Italy which was to be most influential on Wilson’s developing landscape style. On his return to London, Wilson hired several apprentices, including Thomas Jones and Joseph Farington. He continued to paint Italian landscapes, and also took commissions from English and Welsh landowners who wanted views of their estates painted in the Italian style, reminding them of their Grand Tours of Europe. Wilson was a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768.

Drawing was important to Wilson, and his preferred medium was black chalk and stump on a grey paper. Many of Wilson’s landscape oil paintings were based on the large number of drawings that he made during his Italian sojourn.