Wilson, Richard

(born Aug. 1, 1714, Penegoes, Montgomeryshire, Wales—died May 15, 1782, Llanberis, Carnarvonshire) Welsh landscape painter. He worked as a portraitist for many years, but after a lengthy stay in Italy (1750–57) he worked almost exclusively in landscape, except for numerous drawings of Roman sites and buildings that he used in composing Italianate landscapes. A set of drawings made for Lord Dartmouth (dated 1754) show that he tempered his delicate observation of light and distance with the discipline of such 17th-century Classicists as Nicolas Poussin. The landscapes he produced after his return to Britain influenced J.M.W. Turner and John Constable.

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