HUGH WILLIAM WILLIAMS
1773, probably in Devon – 1829, Edinburgh
Williams is first heard of in 1790 as a lodger with a bookseller in Dalkeith, to the south-east of Edinburgh, where he probably learned to draw from his step-grandfather, the émigré Italian embroiderer Louis Ruffini. He may also have attended classes given by major professional Scottish artists of the day, David Allan (1744-96) and Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840). By 1793 he was working in Glasgow, publishing his first print in 1794, but by 1800 he was established in Edinburgh where he remained. Over the years he participated in exhibitions at a variety of venues in both London and Edinburgh and was one of the original members of the Associated Society of Artists founded in Edinburgh in 1808.
Most of Williams’s early works depict Scotland but he also produced watercolours of other locations, basing his scenes on the sketches of pupils and patrons. Two of his Cumbrian watercolours in the Wordsworth Trust collection bear the date 1796 (1991.90.1 and 2006.74.3) while another is dated 1798 (1991.90.2). All these (and the undated Keswick, 2006.74.4) come from the ‘Forbes Drummond Album’ from Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian, thought to have been created by female members of that family in the late 1790s, and containing over forty works by Williams based on their sketches of the Picturesque scenery that was then in vogue (including places he never visited, such as Ireland); the album was sold by Christie’s in Edinburgh on 24 April 1990 and its contents subsequently dispersed. Besides the four scenes in the Trust’s collection mentioned above, the album also contained four other drawings depicting named Lake District subjects and a couple of un-named drawings with comparable ingredients.
There is no evidence that Williams visited the Lake District before 1805. In that year he followed a sojourn in London with a tour through Wales; after this he paid a documented visit to the Lakes, lodging for part of the time in Ambleside. In early August he called on John Harden and his wife Jessy at Brathay Hall and subsequently spent much time in their company, sketching with John and other artists. According to Dr Joe Rock, Williams’s companion on the tour was his friend and patron (and probably also pupil), William Douglas of Orchardton (?1784-1821). Jessy Harden’s diaries mention him being accompanied by a ‘Mr Miller’ (who may have been another Cumbrian friend).
Williams was one of the earliest artists to depict the Highlands of Scotland. Apart from his many large watercolours of Scottish scenery, Williams became known for his extensive journeys around Italy and Greece after the return of peace to Europe in 1815 enabled British artists to travel further afield. These occupied him from June 1816 to the autumn of 1818, his companion again being William Douglas. They resulted not only in numerous watercolours (the focus of several solo exhibitions) but also in two illustrated books, Travels in Italy, Greece and the Ionian Islands (2 volumes, 1820) and Select Views in Greece (published in parts, 1823-9), which earned him the nickname ‘Grecian Williams’.
Literature
Jessy Harden, diaries (transcript in Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal) and see also Daphne Foskett, John Harden of Brathay Hall 1772-1847, Kendal, 1974; ODNB entry by J.K. Caw, rev. Mungo Campbell; google website on Williams created by Dr Joe Rock, especially the sections on early works and ‘teaching and pupils’
8.6.2014
Powell, Cecilia
|
|
