Samuel De Wilde 1751-1832 Portrait of a Gentleman with His Cane and Hat Resting on an Ornate Table.

Samuel de Wilde 1751-1832 Portrait of a Gentleman holding an eye glass with his Cane and Hat resting on an Ornate Table.

oil on canvas laid down on board

16.1/2 x 13 in. (42 x 33 cm.)

Wilde, Samuel De (bap. 1751, d. 1832), portrait painter, was baptized at the Dutch church of Austin Friars, London, on 28 July 1751, the eldest of the two sons of a Dutch woodcarver, also Samuel De Wilde (d. 1753), who had settled in England by 1748 when he married De Wilde's mother, Frances Havart, at St James's Church, Westminster, London. On 19 November 1765 De Wilde was apprenticed for seven years to his godfather, Samuel Haworth, a woodcarver in Denmark Street, Soho. However, he soon showed a talent for painting, broke his apprenticeship, and entered the newly formed Royal Academy Schools on 9 November 1769. At the Royal Academy he would have encountered artists such as Johann Zoffany, whose theatrical portraiture later became a major influence.

We know little of De Wilde's early work: etchings signed P. Paul and mezzotints inscribed S. Paul produced in the 1770s have been attributed to him, but with no real justification. He first exhibited his small portraits at the Society of Artists in 1776 and continued showing there until 1778. From that date onwards he exhibited at the Royal Academy, broadening his œuvre from 1782 onwards with scenes of banditti and fancy pictures. However, he became best-known for his theatrical portraits, which were exhibited almost every year at the academy from 1792 until 1821. He also sent three paintings to the British Institution in 1812.

De Wilde's career in theatrical portraiture began with the start of the publication by John Bell (1745–1831) of the second issue of the British Theatre in January 1791. Before this the only painting by De Wilde with a theatrical connection seems to have been William Shuttlewood, the Actor, Aged 21 (1788; Yale U. CBA), but this represents an actor in everyday dress. Each number of the British Theatre consisted of a play accompanied by a vignette and a full-length portrait of a leading actor or actress of the day as one of the characters. Bell chose De Wilde as the portraitist and puffed him in his newspaper, The Oracle, on 8 April 1791 with the statement: ‘Zoffany has hitherto been considered as the most celebrated Painter of small whole lengths, but comparison now gives DE WILDE a place as his superior’ (Mayes, ‘John Bell’, 101). He provided his protégé with a studio in the British Library, his bookshop on the Strand, and invited potential subscribers to visit the artist at work. De Wilde was extremely productive, painting no fewer than thirty-six character portraits in 1791 and thirty-three in 1792. These paintings show actors and actresses in costume with props, set against a theatrical backdrop. Thomas Blanchard as Ralph in ‘The Maid of the Mill’ (engraved 1791; Garrick Club, London) is a good example of the series, inspired by Zoffany's theatrical portraits of the 1760s. In total De Wilde provided ninety-three pictures for the series before Bell ran into financial problems and both employer and employee were evicted from the British Library by George Cawthorn, a rival bookseller. The last number of the British Theatre to bear Bell's imprint was published in August 1795. Only two of De Wilde's plates appeared under Cawthorn's regime and it is likely that these were found in the British Library after the seizure.

By this date, however, De Wilde's career was established. In 1804 business was thriving to the extent that, despite having a studio at his home in Leicester Square, he began to rent additional rooms from the duke of Bedford at 9 Tavistock Row, Covent Garden. Many actors and actresses came from the nearby Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres to sit to him there and his theatrical portraits adorned numerous publications.