[2] G. C. Williamson was born in Guildford in 1858, and was educated at the University of London.

[4] He wrote many books on European art and artists, focusing on the period from the Renaissance to the late 19th century.

[1] Williamson occasionally wrote on literary, historical, and cultural topics outside the field of art.

Among Williamson' coauthored books is a study of the painter Angelica Kauffmann, one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA).

[7][8] Manners and Williamson wrote that this enabled them to "come to certain definite conclusions regarding many pictures hitherto ascribed to other artists.