Francis Wheatley (1747 - 1801)

Francis Wheatley

Francis Wheatley was a British painter and illustrator, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts.

He successfully studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, but was soon forced to flee to Ireland, where he established himself as a portrait painter and created one of his most famous works, "The Irish House of Commons". Wheatley also painted genre scenes from rural life, landscapes. Later, back in England, Wheatley collaborated with print publisher John Boydell and created works for the Shakespeare Gallery that were later engraved, and it was his illustrations of novels and various genre subjects that formed Wheatley's enduring reputation as a talented illustrator.

In 1791 Wheatley was elected a full member (Academician) of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Today, Francis Wheatley is best known for his two portraits of Admiral Arthur Phillip, the founder of the permanent British settlements in Australia, which today always illustrate the history of the exploration of the Australian continent.