William Percy (portrait artist)

His love of art began early in his life: his first picture was exhibited at the Manchester Autumn Festival in 1833.

As he wrote later: First - to institute a class for the study of the antique and the living model - the want of which has been long felt by the students and artists of this town as an insuperable bar to professional advancement.

Secondly - to collect a library for reference, comprising history, poetry, archeology, optics, anatomy, chemistry, as applied to colour, architecture, sculpture, painting and engraving.

[3]In 1882, Percy's painting of poet Edwin Waugh was hung at the Manchester Art Gallery.

[4] At an exhibit of 51 of his portraits in 1885, The Manchester Literary Club remarked that, in his water colours of children, Percy was "almost without a rival among living painters.