Portrait of Admiral, Sir Hugh Palliser, and Lady Anne ~ John Wollasto

Wollaston was the son of a London portrait painter, also called John Wollaston. He studied under a ‘noted drapery painter’, thought to have been Joseph Aken, the most famous drapery painter of the Mid-18th Century. After working in London, Wollaston travelled to America c. 1749 where he had considerable artistic influence and introduced a repertory of fashionable poses and accessories. He is known to have worked in New York, Maryland, Virginia and Philadelphia. He returned to England in 1767.

Works by the artist are in the following public collections: National Portrait Gallery; H F Du Pont Museum; Virginia Historical Society; Detroit Institute of Arts; Metropolitan Museum, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Bibl: Dictionary of Portrait Painters- Stewart/Cutten. Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters – Ellis Waterhouse. American Colonial Portraits 1700 – 1776. Painters and Paintings in the Early American South (extensive text about Wollaston).