Oil painting David Wilkins FSA
Object number
LDSAL313
Artist/Designer/Maker
Cole, I. - Artist
Production date
Early 18th century
c.1735-45
c.1735-45
Material
oil paint
canvas (paint canvas)
canvas (paint canvas)
Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height: 900mm
Width: 750mm
Width: 750mm
Location
Burlington House -
Content description
Wilkins is depicted half-length to the right, head turned slightly to the left, his left hand holding a book, in clerical gown with bands and grey powdered wig with foretop. The date is suggested by the apparent age of the sitter as a man in his fifties. He has hazel eyes with heavy dark eyebrows. The background is dark with a bookcase to the left.
Oli on canvas portrait of David Wilkins FSA (1685-1745), in carved foliate and gilt wood frame.
David Wilkins (1685–1745) was an anglicised Prussian (Wilke by birth) and a linguist with a command of Arabic, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Coptic and Armenian, in addition to the more familiar western European languages. His main patron was William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, who appointed him librarian of Lambeth Palace Library in 1715, his domestic chaplain in 1719, one of the prebendaries of Canterbury in 1721 and Archdeacon of Suffolk in 1724. He was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries in 1720.