Judith Smith (Mrs. James Ladson)

It is presumed that John Wollaston was the son of the noted London portraitist John Wollaston. He was likely trained by his father, though it has also been suggested that he received instruction from Joseph van Acken, a highly successful drapery painter who completed costume and background detail in portraits by leading British Rococo artists, Allan Ramsay and Thomas Hudson. Trained in the English Rococo tradition, Wollaston arrived in America in 1749. For nearly twenty years, he traveled along the Atlantic seaboard introducing this sophisticated style. His skillful costume renderings and graceful portrait poses exerted considerable influence on young American painters. By September 1765, Wollaston had arrived in Charleston. Despite his obvious talent, Wollaston was unable to break the monopoly of patronage that Charleston artist Jeremiah Theus enjoyed and in 1767 he sailed for England.