Robert Wilkinson was a prominent English map and print publisher who, in 1794, published a famous copper-plate engraved view of the stunning Rialto Bridge in Venice.
The print depicts the Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto) crossing the narrowest section of the Grand Canal.
The bridge itself is Venice's oldest crossing over the Grand Canal. Designed by Antonio da Ponte, it was built on 12,000 wooden pilings and completed in 1591.
Wilkinson’s 1794 London publication made this iconic Italian Renaissance masterwork highly accessible to British collectors and Grand Tour enthusiasts of the era.
The engraving is after the original painting by Michele Marieschi. Michele Marieschi (1710–1743) was a famous Venetian painter renowned for his sweeping vistas of Venice. He painted the original oil scene of the Rialto Bridge around 1740.
The engraver was John Sebastian Miller, a German-born engraver who moved to London. He took Marieschi's painted design and carefully carved it onto a copper plate so it could be printed onto paper.
Robert Wilkinson (c. 1768 – 1825) was a prominent English mapmaker, engraver, book publisher, and print seller who operated at the top tier of the Georgian-era London print marke
Wilkinson's commercial breakthrough came following the death of the well-known English printmaker John Bowles in 1779. Wilkinson acquired Bowles's extensive library of copper master-plates. He began his business by meticulously updating and re-striking these older inherited plates from his famous London shop at 58 Cornhill.
