Wilkie Collins


1999 The mural in the entrance of the refurbished Waitrose in Marylebone High Street, London by the Carmarthen based ceramic artists Carlo Briscoe and Edward Dunn contains images of well known Marylebone people. Wilkie himself was born and died in Marylebone and lived there almost all his life. This rather odd picture is recognizably Wilkie and may have been taken from an 1872 engraving as the frontispiece of Poor Miss Finch published by Harper & Brothers in New York.

Lord Byron - an acquaintance of Wilkie's father William Collins RA. Wilkie met his butler in Italy in 1837.	Arthur Conan Doyle - took many ideas from Collins	Charles Dickens - close friend of Wilkie's from 1851 until his death in 1870	John Mallord William Turner - well known to Wilkie's father, William

The three panels side by side, as they are arranged in the shop. The centre panel shows Lord cricket ground.
		The left hand panel shows St Marylebone parish church where Wilkie was christened on 18 February 1824.
		The right hand panel shows All Souls church, where Wilkie witnessed the marriage of his friend Edward Mathew Ward to the 15 year old and legally under-age Henrietta Ward on 4 May 1848. Behind is the BBC headquarters, Broadcasting House. Many of Wilkie's works have been broadcast by the BBC on television and radio.