George Willison

BRITISH 1741 - 1797

Portrait painter who was born in Edinburgh in 1741 and returned there to spend his retirement.

He was a pupil of Mengs in Rome, before Mengs left for Madrid in 1761.

He painted "Boswell" in Rome in 1765 which is now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Willison was in London from 1767 and exhibited at the Scottish Academy between 1767 - 1770, and at the Royal Academy in 1771 and 1772.

He left London for an opulent retirement in Edinburgh around 1784.