Study for 'The Breakfast', ca. 1817

Sir David Wilkie RA (1785 - 1841)

RA Collection: Art

The Breakfast (Private collection) was dismissed by critics as a painting with 'no interest'. Wilkie himself claimed that, 'it has no story in it, but…it affords me the means of conveying an idea…of the most complete English comfort'. He neglected to mention his closely observed and lightly comic portrayal of the interaction between the young maid and her watchful mistress. This study for The Breakfast is loosely painted in wash but the old woman's face and intense expression are depicted with a clarity that reveals Wilkie's mastery of detail and his accomplishment as a draughtsman.

One of Scotland's most celebrated artists, David Wilkie made his name with lively genre paintings in the Dutch tradition. He studied in Edinburgh before moving to London and the Royal Academy Schools in 1805. Immediate success followed and his popularity reached its height with Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Gazette of the Battle of Waterloo (1818-22, Apsley House), which attracted such a throng of admirers at the Royal Academy that a barrier was needed to protect it.

In 1825 Wilkie suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by bereavement and overwork. Unable to paint he embarked on a Grand Tour that developed his interest in Italian and Spanish painting. The effect of these travels is displayed in his later work which became broader and more ambitious. Wilkie died in 1841 returning from the Middle East, an event commemorated by Turner in his sombre tribute Peace - Burial at Sea (1842, Tate Britain).