WILKIE, Sir David
(b. 1785, Cults, Fife, d. 1841, off Malta)

Reading the Will

1820
Oil on canvas, 76 x 115 cm
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Narrative painting was fashionable in Britain, and one of the most celebrated painters in this genre was Sir David Wilkie. The Reading the Will was commissioned by the King of Bavaria, Max I Joseph, and it immediately made the artist famous.