Wilson was the leading British landscapist of his age who elevated landscape painting from topography into an important genre. He started out as a portrait painter but his formative years in Italy, from 1750 - 1757 during which he met contemporary artists such as Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789) caused him to change.

He returned to London and set up a studio in fashionable Covent Garden. Wilson was a founder member of the Society of Artists in 1761 and the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768 and exhibited in both places regularly. His final years saw his work fall from favour and, badly affected by heavy drinking, he retired to Wales.