William Powell Frith RA (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter[1] specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era.

Following the precedent of Wilkie, but also imitating the work of his friend Dickens, Frith created complex multi-figure compositions depicting the full range of the Victorian class system, meeting and interacting in public places.

He followed this with The Derby Day, depicting scenes among the crowd at the race at Epsom Downs, which was based on photographic studies by Robert Howlett.

His 1858 painting The Crossing Sweeper has been described as breaking "new ground in its description of the collision of wealth and poverty on a London street.

Fellow traditionalist Frederic Leighton is featured in the painting, which also portrays painter John Everett Millais and novelist Anthony Trollope.

The first major retrospective in Frith's native Britain for half a century was staged at the Guildhall Art Gallery, London in November 2006.

[12] Frith has paintings in the collection of several British institutions including Derby Art Gallery, Sheffield, Harrogate and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

It is a book of childhood reminiscences describing her father and the family's set of artist and literary friendships, chiefly members of The Clique.