John Wilton, (or Wilkes) (d.1751) ‘Decus Culinae’ (Ornament of the Kitchens)
Mr Whitmore (fl.1729)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1729
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
1890 x 1225 x 43 mm
Order this imageCollection
Chirk Castle, Wrexham
NT 1171169
Summary
Oil painting on panel, John Wilton, (or Wilkes) (d.1751) ‘Decus Culinae’ by Mr Whitmore, 1729, inscribed 'Decus Culinae'. A full-length figure, seated, facing, with head inclined slightly to the left, gazing at spectator, short hair, moustache curved down to small beard, his right hand palm down on his right knee, holding a tumbler with liquid in his left hand, glimpse of white shirt at neck with two buttons, coat with small gilt buttons, breeches and stockings. On the left, on a small table is a large blue and white decorated jug with a handle, The the left of the jug is an inscription but all than can be seen in the last letter “R”. In front of it on the table is a ‘spanner’ (?) with a handle. John Wilton or Wilkes, described in a late eighteenth-century account of servants as ‘a deformed Cripple taken into the Family by Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Bt (1655-1716) and kept for Charity from his Youth to his Death which happen’d in October 1751 – near sixty years old’. Not strictly a servant, he was given the courtesy title ‘Ornament of the Kitchens’.
Provenance
Entry in Account 21 Jan. 1729: 'Paid Mr Whitmore ... for Wilton's Picture 2 2s';in 1814 inventory: (Kitchen); 'An old full length portrait 'Decus Culinae'; with some of the contents, in 1978, that were acquired along with Chirk Castle from Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) by the National Land Fund and handed, on loan for 99 years, to the Secretary of State for Wales (In 1981 Chirk was transferred into the ownership of the National Trust) ; accepted by the Inland Revenue in lieu of Inheritance Tax from the estate of Lt-Col Ririd Myddelton (1902–1988) and transferred to the National Trust for display to the public at Chirk Castle in 1999
Marks and inscriptions
Decus Culinae
Makers and roles
Mr Whitmore (fl.1729), artist