William Linton (artist)

Linton's later works still bear strong influence of Claude Lorrain's manner with its investigation of natural light effects, of Richard Wilson with his large-scale panoramic compositions, and particularly of Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714–1789) with his inclination to an idealised classical landscape.

On his second, more extended tour, he travelled around the Mediterranean, visiting the South of France, Sicily, Italy, Malta and Greece.

We admire the breadth, repose, and sobriety of the tone which are so favourable to architectural effect in his pictures, and Mr Linton never resorts to those artifices of light by which so many modern artists attempt to throw a strained and unnatural interest over their compositions.

[5]Linton had wealthy patrons, and his large-scale painting 'Positano, Gulf of Salerno' (Wolverhampton Art Gallery) was commissioned by the Earl of Ellesmere.

At the same time, Linton also presented himself as a man-of-letters: in 1832, he published a book ‘Sketches in Italy: being a selection from upwards of five hundred of the most striking and picturesque scenes in various parts of Piedmont: the Milanese, Venetian, and Roman States; Tuscany; and the Kingdom of Naples; sketched during a tour in the years 1828-1829.’(London, 1832).

He was a talented chemist and published in 1852 the Ancient and Modern Colours, from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time, with their Chemical and Artistical Properties.