Left: A Cottage in a Wooded Landscape, Center: Cattle Watering by a Windmill with Fishermen at the End of the Day, and Right: Nocturnal River Landscape.
Left: Night Scene, Center: River Landscape with Windsor Castle, and Right: Wooded River Landscape with Travelers on a Bridge.
Paintings by Edward "Old" Williams
A photo of Edward Williams from a family album.
Edward "Old" Williams was born in 1782 in London. His father Edward Williams Sr. was an engraver of some note who sometimes worked with George Raphael Smith, Thomas Rowlandson and William Ward. However, the elder Edward Williams is probably best known for marrying Mary Ward, the sister of James Ward, the well-known animal painter, and of William Ward, the engraver. Mary Ward was a wild spirit known to delight in ridiculing those around her, and when she ran off with another man, the younger Edward was sent to live with his Uncle James. This was probably during the late 1790s at a time when James Ward was working principally as an engraver, not a painter, but the dates and details are vague. The fact that Ward scarcely mentions Edward in his diaries, suggests that very little if any art instruction was given, yet Edward must have certainly been influenced by his brief association with his uncle. Another famous uncle, who likewise gave no instruction, was the notorious painter George Morland, a child prodigy whose wild lifestyle was as legendary as his painting skill.
Edward was apprenticed to a London carver and gilder, which makes it likely that he began his career making picture frames. However, young Williams is said to have yearned to be a painter, and he soon began to establish himself as an artist. He started by copying landscapes in the style of the late 1600s Dutch Baroque artists Ruisdael and Hobbema. He also painted comtemporary landscapes that, not surprizingly, hint of his uncle George Morland. However, the figures and buildings in Williams' paintings lack the fineness and detail of Morland's works. Ultimately, Williams became known for moonlight scenes, and he is sometimes referred to in contempary art journals as "Moonlight Williams. He also painted many river scenes along the Thames in his later years. However, he is best known for being the father of six sons, all of whom became well-known Victorian landscape artists, and this patriarch of the so-called "Williams family of painters" is often referred to in art circles as "Old Williams". He died on June 24, 1855 in Barnes, Surrey, on the south side of the Thames River from London. Wikipedia Article
Edward Williams seldom signed his paintings, which has led to a lot of confusion in trying to distinguish his works form those of his sons, particulary his oldest son Edward Charles Williams who likewise did not sign many of his works. The similarity in style of some of their paintings has perplexed many an art historian, who knew they were dealing with a canvas painted by one of the Williams family, but had no idea which one.
Edward William's work was displayed from 1814-1855 (95 paintings) at all the major exhibitions of his day, including the Royal Academy (36 paintings), the Suffolk Street Gallery of the Royal Association of British Artists (38 paintings), and the British Institution (21 paintings).
Today, examples of his work can be seen in several British museums and galleries, most of which are on the Art UK website.
Anglesey Abbey, Lode near Cambridge
Essex County Council
Norfolk Museum (two paintings)
Norwich Castle Museum (2 paintings)
Perth and Kinross Council
Tate Gallery, London (2 paintings)
Temple Newsam House, Leeds
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
York Art Gallery
Early Work
Edward Williams - 1815 - George Wilson the Pedestrian.
An early engraving by Edward Williams published on Sept. 25, 1815 by Thomas Palser of Lambeth, London. It commemorates George Wilson, who gained fame by making long-distance walks across England. Although Williams was about 33-years old at this time, he was just starting out on the artist phase of his career, which explains why this engraving is somewhat crude in its execution. Because Williams had been trained as a carver and gilder of picture frames, and not as an artist, he probably had no formal art instructions, yet taught himself to paint by copying the styles of others, particularly Dutch landscape artists of the previous century.
Wooded Landscapes (in the style of the Dutch Masters)
The landscapes below by Edward Williams somewhat mimic the style of Dutch Baroque artists Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709) and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), with wooded rural scenes showing dense groupings of trees and very detailed renderings of the individual tree leaves. These were probably painted by Williams early on in his career when he was teaching himself to paint landscapes by copying the works of early Dutch painters.
Left: A Cottage in a Wooded Landscape, Center: A Man and his Dog in a Landscape, and Right: Figures Crossing a Stream.
Left: A Wooded River Landscape, Center: The Farm Pond, and Right: Wooded River Landscape with Travelers on a Bridge..
A Wooded Landscape with Anglers
Jan Reynolds (1975, p. 197) attributes the unsigned landscape on the left to Edward Williams' son Edward Charles Williams. However, others believe it to be more representative of "Old Williams" himself - note in particular the detailed rendering of the tree leaves in the detail view on the right. Both artists many times did not sign their work, and because of the similarity of their styles, differentiating the work of one from the other can be very difficult.
Boat and Windmill Scenes (in the style of the Dutch Masters)
These landscapes that somewhat mimic the style of Dutch Baroque artists Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709) and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), with river scenes showing boats and windmills. The contrast is softer, and the tones brighter than in Williams' wooded scenes shown above. Again, these were probably painted by Williams early in his career when he was teaching himself to paint by copying the works of early Dutch painters.
Left: Cattle Watering by a Windmill with Fishermen at the End of the Day, Center: River Landscape with Figures on Boats, and Right: A Squally Day on the Yare, Norfolk.
Left: Dutch Fishing Vessels, and Right: Harbor Scene.
Moonlit River Scenes
Edward Williams eventually developed his own style, charaterized by moonlight scenes, often with the moonlight reflecting off of water. Like his Ruisdael-style paintings, many of Williams' moonlight scenes, such as the ones shown below, include windmills, only now they are relegated to background settings and less prominent than before, with the moon serving instead as the focus of the painting. Williams became so well-known for his moonlight scenes that many art journals of the time referred to him as "Moonlight Williams".
Left: Figures Unloading a Barge in Winter, Center: Near the Yarmouth Roads (signed), and Right: River by Moonlight (unsigned).
Left: Winter Evening, Center: The Moonlit Ferry, and Right Night Scene.
Left: Nocturnal River Landscape, Center: On the Norfolk Broads (unsigned), and Right: Moonlight.
Village Scenes with People and Animals
Visitors and Poultry on a Path to the Village, which is on the left, is an Edward Williams landscape somewhat in the style of his uncle George Morland, but lacking the detail to the characters and buildings that is found in Morland's work. For example, notice the crude form to the building in the painting on the left, and the simplicity to the people and animals shown in the detail on the right. However, the painting still shows the same attention to detail of tree leaves, as found in William's earlier Hobbema-style landscapes. This picture nicely shows how William's style, and ability as a painter, evolved over the years, when compared to his earlier woodland landscapes and moonlit river scenes.
Left: Landscape with Cattle, Center: Crossing the Stream, A Wayside Chat, and Right: The Mill.
Left: The Forge, and Right: Figures on a Track by a Rural Mill.
Thames River Landscapes
Edward Williams during the latter part of his career lived with several of his sons in a communal artist setting at Castelnau Villas in Barnes, which bordered woods and marsh lands along the Thames River on the outskirts of London. Consequently, many of his paintings from this period feature rural scenes that one might encounter along the river. Because his paintings from this period resemble those of his sons, and because he often did not sign his work, it can be very difficult sometimes to know which member of the family is responsible for an unsigned landscape attributed to them.
Left: River Landscape with Windsor Castle, Center: Landscape with Cattle at Milking Time, and Right: Rush Cutters on the Thames - 1851 (signed).
The painting on the far right is signed E. Williams, but some have attributed it to the oldest son Edward Charles Williams, and not to the father.
Left: Durham Cathedral, and Right: A View on the Banks of the Thames.
An Engraving from Edward William's Later Years
Edward Williams - 1847
An illustration in the British Museum Collection that was cut from an 1847 edition of the London Art Union Annual. It shows a mezzotint engraving of one of Edward William's paintings that was made by Henry Melville (1792-1870), and published in 1847 by E. Atchley.
Landscape Artists who influenced Edward Williams
Examples of Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709) landscapes
Examples of Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682) landscapes
Williams was also greatly influenced by his uncles George Morland and James Ward
Both of the above landscapes were painted in the 1790s by William's uncles, when he was still a boy. He received little if any instruction from either, but he would have learned much just by simply watching them at work, painting in their studios.
Paintings by Edward Williams 
