Wiltshire Class - Year Four - Miss Ramplin

Stephen Wiltshire

British architectural artist and autistic savant

(A savant is a person affected with a 'super power' such as as autism who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in a specific field such as maths or art)

“Do the best you can and never stop.” - Stephen Wiltshire

Stephen Wiltshire is an extremely talented artist who draws and paints incredibly detailed cityscapes. He has a particular talent for drawing lifelike, accurate representations of cities, sometimes after having only observed them briefly. 

Stephen was born in London, United Kingdom to West Indian parents on 24th April 1974. As a child he was mute and did not relate to other people. Aged three, he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language and lived entirely in his own world. At the age of five, it soon became apparent he communicated with the world through the language of drawing; first animals, then London buses, and finally buildings.

Aged just seven years old, Stephen Wiltshire made his first steps to launch his lifelong career. The same year he sold his first work and by the time he turned 8, he received his first commission from the British Prime Minister to create a drawing of Salisbury Cathedral.

He has received commissions across the globe to undertake vast panoramic drawings of world cities including Tokyo, Rome, Madrid, Dubai, London and New York. Wiltshire’s meticulously detailed panoramas are so intricate that you would be forgiven for thinking that he spent weeks closely studying the architecture of the cities. His work becomes all the more impressive when you discover that he gazes at an urban landscape just once to memorise it. Sometimes, he takes a whistle-stop tour of a city’s skyline by helicopter, only to produce a finished impression in a matter of days. A 2001 BBC documentary showed him completing a complex but perfectly scaled aerial illustration of London – with 12 historic landmarks and 200 other buildings – in three hours.

During his successful career he has published three books showcasing his unique skill, sold out numerous exhibitions and has been the subject of numerous documentaries. In 2006 he was awarded an MBE for services to the art world. Stephen continues to draw every day and discover new cities and new methods to capture the world around us.

In learning about Stephen Wiltshire, we hope our children will be inspired to discover and nurture their talents as well as understand that what some people may perceive to be a weakness can in fact be your greatest strength.

Class Teacher - Miss Ramplin

Learning Support Assistants - Mrs Baker and Ms Choules

PE is on Monday (indoor) and on Tuesday (outdoor)

Outdoor Learning is on Tuesday

Class Email: wiltshire@springmeadow.essex.sch.uk