Naval Ship at Sea

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Signed ' Wyld' on the naval ship.

Watercolor.

8 1/16 x 11 3/8 inches.

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Born in 1806 to a merchant family in London, William Wyld trained in diplomacy and took a job as secretary to the British Council in Calais. There he met the painter Louis Francia (1772-1839) and learned watercolor and painting technique. Wyld traveled to Italy, Spain and French occupied Algeria with his friend Horace Vernet (1789-1863) and published Voyage picturesque dans la Regence Alger pendant l'annes 1833. In 1839. Wyld had his first exhibition at the Paris Salon and received a gold medal. A second gold medal followed four years later.

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An excellent watercolorist from the school of Bonington, Wyld was revered in both his home of Victorian Britain and his adopted France. Wyld was awarded the Legion d'honneur in 1855 for his important contribution to the development of French watercolor and, about the same time, became a member of the New Watercolor Society in London where he would exhibit his works for over twenty years. In 1879, Wyld was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolor. He died in Paris in 1889.