A Londoner who immortalised Georgian life
POSTERITY has cocked a snook at the verdict on Francis Wheatley that was expressed in 1772 by the authors of Candid Observations on the Principal Performances Now Exhibiting at the New Rooms of the Society of Artists. This pithily titled critique made bold claims for the painter, not least that he ‘[bid] fair to be of the first class’.
Alas, it was not to be. Wheatley’s career spanned three decades,in 1780 and the glorious , commissioned in 1782.
