(1722 - 1803)
Joseph Wilton was born in London; the son of an ornamental plasterer. He was educated in Hertfordshire before training in France under Flemish sculptor Laurent Delvaux and French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. In 1747 he moved to Rome, where he sold casts and copies of antique sculpture. He moved to Florence in 1751. After his return to England in 1755 he supplied casts and copies to the Duke of Richmond’s academy of art in Whitehall and he and Italian painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani became the academy’s directors. In 1760, Wilton won a competition to design a monument to Major-General James Wolfe for Westminster Abbey. He served as Sculptor in Ordinary to King George III and Keeper of the Royal Academy. Wilton died in London, aged 81.
