Williams family of painters

This same journal in 1886, and subsequently the Dictionary of National Biography, wrote that Williams' son Sidney Richard Percy was "founder of the so-called School of Barnes".

However, Henry John Boddington was well known in his lifetime as well, and he was even elected a member (RBA) of the prestigious Royal Society of British Artists, a recognition not achieved by any of his brothers.

[9] Shown below are those grandchildren whose names appear in the exhibition catalogs,[7] and who, with the exception of Amy Dora Percy, are listed in Wood's (1995) Dictionary of Victorian Painters.

Edwin Henry Boddington had the most works exhibited at the Royal Academy, which indicates his talent, but his success and subsequent recognition was limited, some say by a lack of industry and perhaps a tendency to rest on the accomplishments of his father.

[12] Said to somehow be related to the family by marriage, Shayer would add figures, usually people or farm animals, to Williams landscapes otherwise barren of this ornamentation.

[18] The Victorian era (1837–1901) was a time when many Britons raised in the country became wealthy during the industrial revolution and were forced to leave their rural roots and relocate to the City of London.

Nostalgic for the beauty and solitude of woodlands and meadows they once knew, with wealth enough to indulge in luxuries such as the arts, many spent large sums of money on country landscapes that reminded them of their childhoods.

Although royal recognition and membership in prestigious societies generally went to those artists who painted grand battle scenes and portraits, the public bought landscapes.

"Williams [family] paintings were designed ... to be displayed in homes, rather than museums or galleries, and these gentle landscapes fell into obscurity as tastes changed.

"[20] Ultimately the only member of the Barnes School to receive formal recognition was Henry Boddington with his 1842 election to the Society of British Artists (RBA).

Despite little critical acclaim during their lifetimes, Sidney Richard Percy, Henry Boddington and Arthur Gilbert were three of the most popular landscape artists of the Victorian era, probably more so than the aforementioned Benjamin Leader.

[22] This, plus the enduring popularity of their works today, reflected by the high prices some Williams family paintings bring in auction,[6] demonstrates the importance of the Barnes School in the history of Victorian art.