John Wilson (painter, born 1774)

John H. Wilson RBA (1774 in Ayr – 1855 in Folkestone) was a Scottish landscape and marine painter, president of the Society of British Artists in 1827.

[1][2] Wilson was apprenticed at age thirteen to a decorator named John Norrie in Edinburgh and then received instruction in landscape painting from Alexander Nasmyth.

[4] In 1825 he won a premium of £100 from the BI for his painting titled The Battle of Trafalgar, which was subsequently purchased by Lord Northwick.

In 2010 the painting was accepted in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to East Ayrshire Council which displayed it locally at the Baird Institute in Cumnock.

[5] Wilson was one of the founders of the Society of British Artists where he exhibited extensively throughout his working life.