William Charles Ross

In 1808 he was admitted into the schools of the Royal Academy, where he received from Benjamin West much kind advice, and in 1810 gained a silver medal for a drawing from life.

The Westminster Hall competition of 1843 led him to turn his hand once more to historical composition, and he sent a cartoon of "The Angel Raphael discoursing with Adam", which was awarded an extra premium of £100.

He continued to hold a preeminent position amongst miniature-painters until 1857, when he was struck down by paralysis while engaged on portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Aumale, with their two sons.

Magdalene Ross (1801–1874), a sister, who likewise practised the same branch of art, exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1820 and 1856; she married Edwin Dalton, a portrait-painter.

An exhibition of miniatures by him was held at the Society of Arts early in 1860, and in June his remaining works were sold by the auctioneers Christie, Manson & Woods.

Writing for the Dictionary of National Biography, Robert Edmund Graves noted that "others have surpassed him in power of expression, but in refinement, in purity of colour, and in truth, he had no rival.