His patience, industry,
and steady perseverance were the means by which he achieved his
greatness. Nature endowed him with genius, and his sound sense
enabled him to employ the precious gift as a blessing. He was
prudent and shrewd, like the men amongst whom he was born; the
pocket-book which accompanied him on his Italian tour containing
mingled notes on art, records of daily expenses, and the current
prices of marble. His tastes were simple, and he made his finest
subjects great by the mere force of simplicity. His statue of
Watt, in Handsworth church, seems to us the very consummation of
art; yet it is perfectly artless and simple. His generosity to
brother artists in need was splendid, but quiet and unostentatious.
He left the principal part of his fortune to the Royal Academy for
the promotion of British art.
The same honest and persistent industry was throughout distinctive
of the career of David Wilkie. The son of a Scotch minister, he
gave early indications of an artistic turn; and though he was a
negligent and inapt scholar, he was a sedulous drawer of faces and
figures. A silent boy, he already displayed that quiet
concentrated energy of character which distinguished him through
life. He was always on the look-out for an opportunity to draw,--
and the walls of the manse, or the smooth sand by the river side,
were alike convenient for his purpose.
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