Edward Williams (painter)

Although 1782 is usually given for his birth date, Edward Williams was actually born in 1781 in London, and baptized 13 October 1781 at St. Mary's Church in the Lambeth district.

As such, the younger Williams grew up surrounded by artists, of whom Ward and Moreland were two the best-known painters in Georgian London.

Edward Williams, junior was sent around 1792 or 1793 to live with his maternal uncle James Ward, R.A. (1769–1859), but it seems unlikely that he received any painting instruction from him.

Instead he was informally apprenticed to a carver and gilder named Thomas Hillier, who had a shop on Carnaby Street.

Most of Edward Williams' life was spent in or near the artists quarter associated with Tottenham Court Road in London, until 1846 when he moved his family to 32 Castelnau Villas in rural Barnes, Surrey.

Here in Barnes, close to marshes of the Thames River, and near farm fields and wooded estates, the Williams family lived and worked in a communal artist setting.

[4] He often shared venues with his sons, causing some confusion with the public who had trouble telling one Williams painting from another.

[3][5] Three of Edward and Ann Williams' sons eventually changed their last name so that the public would not confuse their paintings with those of the rest of the family.

He started by painting miniatures, and copying Baroque landscapes from the 1600s in the style of the Dutch painters Ruisdael (1628-1682) and Hobbema (1638-1709) - the former known for woodland scenes with detailed renderings of trees, particularly the leaves, and water scenes with small boats moored beneath windmills; the latter known for his densely foliated trees with stippled leaves.

As Edward Williams developed his own style, he moved on to contemporary landscapes of the English countryside that, not surprisingly, hint of some of the work of his uncle George Morland.