William Williams of Norwich (1727-1791), attributed to, 'Portrait of a gentleman sitting on a rock', signed 'William W' (?) (indistictly legible) bottom left.
Attributed to William Williams (English / American, 1727-1791), Portrait of a Family, circa 1745 Oil on canvas, bears paper label on verso from Rutland Gallery London, framed. 39 in. x 59 in. (sight) Provenance Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Crane, Jr., Castle Hill, Ipswich, Massachusetts Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., Important English Furniture, Other Valuable Art, Property from the Estate of the Late Florence H. Crane, June 30th, 1950, lot 607 A private New York collection. Literature The Family Group is illustrated in the grand entrance hall of Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Crane's Castle Hill, circa 1927, in Richard Pratt, David Adler: The Architect and His Work (1979), pg. 127, pl. 91.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS OF NORWICH (BRITISH 1727-1791) HORSE AND RIDER IN A STORMY LANDSCAPE oil on canvas 81 x 104cm; 32 x 41in 95.5 x 118cm; 37 1/2 x 46 1/2in (framed) Property of a Lady, London Provenance: Acquired by the present owner in the 1970s
William Williams (Norwich 1727-1797 Bristol) The Iron bridge at Colebrookdale signed and dated 'W. W ms/ 1780' (lower left) oil on canvas 75.8 x 90.8cm (29 13/16 x 35 3/4in).
* William Williams of Norwich (British, 1727-1797) Amelia struck by lightning signed and dated ‘WWilliams 1763’ (lower centre) oil on canvas, in a carved and giltwood Rococo style frame 62 x 74.5cm Provenance: New York, 4th June 1980, as 'Couple in a Forest in a Storm (1763, oil on canvas, 61 × 73.5 cm)', for $2,000; The Asbjorn Lunde Foundation, Inc. Footnote: This landscape illustrates a passage from Summer in James Thomson’s cycle of poems The Seasons, first published in 1730. The latter years of the eighteenth century saw the popularity of Thomson’s series soar. Publishers and booksellers reacting to this created and sold the poems in numerous forms, from duodecimo to folio. Often the latest editions included essays on Thomson’s work and artists were commissioned to create illustrations and frontispieces. This burgeoning market for Thomson’s work and the proliferation of associated visual material meant that The Seasons became an easily recognisable classic - one that was identified by the British public through the high points of its poetic narrative. The scene shown by Williams in the present lot, set in Caernarvonshire, Wales, describes a popular passage from Summer involving the two lovers Amelia and Celadon. The moment was inspired by an account given by Alexander Pope in 1718. Pope tells of two young lovers, John Hewet and Sarah Drew, who were caught in a thunderstorm and when the pair attempted to take shelter, Sarah was killed by a lightning strike. In Thomson’s Summer, Amelia shares the same fate. Williams, originally from Norfolk, spent his formative years working as a scenery painter for the theatre. It is likely that this background influenced his predilection for dramatic subject matter and powerful atmospheric effects. In the present scene, Williams frames the moment of action as if it were taking place on stage. He employs the eighteenth-century language of the sublime to skilfully describe the high drama of this popular story in such evocative terms. The same subject, but of different composition, was sold at Christie’s on 18th November 1966, lot 21 (see Ellis Waterhouse, The Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters, 1981, p. 413 - where it is suggested that composition was exhibited at the RA in 1778, no. 346). A smaller version of that painting dated 1784, titled Thunderstorm with the Death of Amelia, is in Tate Britain. All proceeds from the sale of this and another eleven paintings (lots 57-68) will benefit the activities of the Asbjorn Lunde Foundation, Inc., which continues its founder’s support of research, publishing, presentation, and practice in museums and music. Throughout his long life, Mr. Lunde supported more than forty museums in his native New York, across the United States, and in Europe with loans, gifts, and funding. Mr. Lunde was a proud New Yorker with roots in Norway. He was keenly interested in nineteenth-century Scandinavian and Swiss landscape painting, Old master painting, and Asian decorative arts.
William Williams (Llanfair-ar-y-bryn, Carmarthenshire 1727-1791) Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire signed and dated 'W. Williams/1778' (lower right) oil on canvas 46 x 61.5cm (18 1/8 x 24 3/16in). For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
WILLIAMS, William (1727-1794), artist, D[AWKINS], H[enry], engraver. BENJAMIN LAY. Lived to the Age of 80, in the Latter part of which, he Observ'd extreem Temperance in his Eating and Drinking. His Fondness for a Particularity in Dress and Customs at times subjected him to the Redicule of the Ignorant, but his Friends who were more Intimate with Him, thought Him an Honest Religious man. [Philadelphia: Henry Dawkins, c. 1760]. A rare near-contemporary print of The Quaker Comet, Benjamin Lay (1682-1759). A Quaker by birth, Lay emigrated from England to the Americas in 1718, first establishing himself as a merchant in Barbados. Already a strident opponent of slavery in England (he had been disowned from Friends' Meetings in Devonshire and Colchester), he was said to be struck by the horrors of what he witnessed there. In 1732, Lay moved to Philadelphia and became an itinerant bookseller, selling Bibles, poetry and philosophy. He befriended Benjamin Franklin who published Lay's 1737 book, All Slave Keepers That keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates. It is also believed that Franklin may have commissioned William Williams to paint the diminutive Lay's portrait (he stood just four feet tall), upon which Henry Dawkins based the present engraving. (The original painting, long thought lost, was rediscovered in a Pennsylvania barn in 1979.) The present image shows Lay toward the end of his life, standing before a cave on the where he moved following his wife Sarah's death in 1737. While it has been thought that Lay lived in the cave, it may have been used to house his extensive library. In 1758, the Pennsylvania Quakers, after more than 20 years of harsh castigation and provocative stunts by Lay, finally formally denounced slave trading and disavowed all slave holders. When Lay heard the news he said, 'I can now die in peace,' closed his eyes and expired (Jill Lepore, These Truths, 2018, p. 76). See also Wilford P. Cole, Henry Dawkins and the Quaker Comet Winterthur Portfolio. Vol. 4 (1968), pp. 34-46; Marcus Rediker, Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2017). Extremely Rare: According to Rare Book Hub, the last copy of Dawkins' print to appear at auction was in the collection of Samuel W. Pennypacker and sold in 1906 (Davis & Harvey, Philadelphia, 10 April 1906, lot 358.) Another copy was offered by the Franklin Bookshop in 1916 or 1917, and Freidenberg Gallery, New York offered an example of undetermined date in 1936. Engraving on laid paper. Plate: 8 9/15 x 7 1/4 in (218 x 185mm), sheet: 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in (247 x 193mm). (Light toning) hinged to a mat and framed.
A NEWLY DISCOVERED WILLIAM WILLIAMS PORTRAIT OF A COLONIAL AMERICAN OFFICER WILLIAM WILLIAMS (1727-1791) Portrait of a New York or Pennsylvania Artillery Officer, 1772 Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches, signed and dated lower: 'Wm. Will[iams] / 1772'; in later carved and gilded frame One of only two known portraits by William Williams of colonial American soldiers, this painting was hiding in plain sight in an exhibition gallery of the Fort Ligonier Museum for the past 45 years. It had been donated to the museum as an Allan Ramsay portrait of Arthur St. Clair, executed prior to his departure from Scotland to America as a young subaltern in the 60th Foot or Royal Americans, with even a spurious version of the artist's and sitter's names painted to the upper right background of the portrait—something often found in actual Ramsay portraits from the 1750s. The portrait as then identified would have been an invaluable addition to the collection, as Scottish-born St. Clair had served at the post during the French & Indian War and later lived in Ligonier, Pennsylvania (both prior to, and following his public service as major general in the Continental Army and again, after his term as the first governor of the Northwest Territory). However, over the years, the identity of the sitter, artist attribution and details of the uniform have all come into question. In 2007, this cataloger sent a 3-page letter to the then-director of Fort Ligonier documenting the dress to be that of a Royal Artillery officer (a corps in which St. Clair never served) and also to a postwar window of 1768-1770, based on specific details of the uniform and equipage depicted. Falling outside the museum's scope of collections, the portrait was eventually deaccessioned and consigned to this sale. Permission was granted by Fort Ligonier to have conservation work done on the portrait prior to the sale, including the removal of the spurious identification painted on the canvas. During the cleaning and removal of old inpainting, the remains of the original signature and date were discovered "bottom left, wrought in a fine, detailed hand, [that had] been worn away probably by the inevitable attempts to make it more legible by saliva coated fingers" (Mosorjak 2019). Later examination determined it to be 'Wm. Will[iams] / 1772" and comparison of it with signatures from other known Williams paintings of the 1760s-1770s, as well as painting technique and composition, confirmed the cataloger's initial reaction that this was indeed a work by the hand of William Williams. William Williams is perhaps best-known today as Benjamin's West's original instructor in drawing and painting, as well as being the author of the anonymously and posthumously published, but semi-autobiographical novel, The Journal of Llewellyn Penrose, a Seaman (1815). He was born in Bristol, England and has been said to have been self-taught as a painter, but study of this and documented paintings by Williams suggest that he also benefited from professional instruction. As noted by conservator Michael Mosorjak in his condition report on the painting: "The prepared canvas was underpainted in a traditional, academic technique…utilized for centuries in western Europe…consisting of a mixture of a black (lamp or bone), a white lead (oxide), a red (ferrous oxide) and a yellow (ferrous – either yellow ochre or raw sienna), and termed 'verdaccio'. The design layer ('abbozzo) is applied atop and colors are laid, glazed, or scumbled in. The underpainting is often left and incorporated into the design layer to serve as middle to high dark values and shadows. This technique indicated that the artist had some or extensive formal training or instruction, probably in the studio of another artist, and his applications are closely associated with British painting of the 18th century." Williams was clearly an "artist of talent and facility", as noted by art historian Edgar P. Richardson, receiving payment of 100 pounds for at least one work—no small sum in that period. Ellen Miles (1987) notes of the delicate coloring employed in his works, the middle ground placement of the subject, and the stagelike settings of his backgrounds, no doubt influenced by his past work as a scenery painter for theatrical productions. Williams worked in Philadelphia from 1747 until c. 1769 (incl. a 3-year hiatus to the West Indies, 1760-1763), after which he relocated to New York City in search of new commissions, working primarily in that city until 1776, when he returned to England. Most of the surviving American portraits by Williams are full-length, whether painted in larger or smaller format. A portrait from his New York period that appears closely related to this work is a smaller oil (23 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.) of "Private McKinney", signed and dated 1773 (formerly in the Warner Collection, Tuscaloosa, AL). Both subjects are citizen-soldiers, McKinney a member of the elite New York Grenadiers, a volunteer company formed in c. 1765 and our subject dressed in a uniform based on that of the Royal Artillery. At least two colonial units are known to have modeled themselves on the Royal Artillery: Samuel Tudor's "first Royal Artillery Independent Company" of New York City and Benjamin Loxley's Artillery Company of the Philadelphia Associators (expanded to four companies by 1776, one of which—Moulder's) can be seen wearing a near-identical uniform in the foreground of James Peale's painting, The Battle of Princeton). However, unless Williams did occasionally return to Philadelphia after moving to New York, the most likely candidate is Tudor's New York Company, described wearing blue coats, faced red and white smallclothes. Our officer holds a fusil (abolished for Royal Artillery officers in 1770), and has the badges of rank of an officer, including epaulette, sash and sword. The artillery piece that he stands before is one with an iron barrel—those used by the British Royal Artillery were of bronze. The company's four officers: CPT Samuel Tudor, CPT-LT James Seagrove, and LTs Nicholas Bogert and Francis Lewis, Jr. were all from well-to-do New York society families and certainly able to afford not only their military kit, but also a possible portrait by Williams. Property of the Fort Ligonier Association.
William Williams of Plymouth (1808-1895), Watercolour and gouache. A south coast Rocky Headland at sea's edge, Signed ' W Williams Plymouth 1860 ' lower right. 9 x 13 1/4"
WILLIAM WILLIAMS (1727-1791, BRITISH) Figure with Horse and Cart Before a Cottage oil on panel, signed and dated 1786 lower right 13 x 16ins Provenance: Collection of the late Alexander Murray Esq, of Broughton, see remnants of label verso
Attributed to William Williams (1727-1791) Portrait of Reverend John Basset Collins, his wife Elizabeth and son Francis, with a view of their house Nans (aka Nance) and Illogan Church with Portreath coast beyond Oil on canvas The size of the canvas is 102 x 128 cm (40 x 50 1/4 in) Provenance: The Collection of Brigadier C. T. Edwards-Collins; Sotheby's London, 19th November 1969, Lot 37, sold for 3000 (as by William Williams); Private collection, Devon.
Attributed to William Williams (Bristol 1727-1791) Andromeda signed, inscribed and dated 'Mυr. Williams returns Mυr. Kunhans many thanks for his polite attentions:- will if he pleases meet him at the coffee-house, (where they were last) this afternoon at Ave =Maria:- returns Mυr. Kunhans his Album, in which Mυr. Williams has put a sketch of an Andromeda - Monday Morning - 3υd: April, 1786.' (on a sheet of tracing paper attached to the drawing) pencil 8 3/8 x 6 in. (21.3 x 15.2 cm.)
Circle of William Williams (1727-1791) PORTRAIT OF A SPORTSMAN CLEANING HIS FOWLING PIECE, WITH HOUNDS BY HIS SIDE, IN A WOODED LANDSCAPE Oil on panel 37 x 30cm
Circle of William Williams (1727-1791) PORTRAIT OF A SPORTSMAN CLEANING HIS FOULING PIECE, WITH HOUNDS BY HIS SIDE, IN A WOODED LANDSCAPE Oil on panel 37 x 30cm
Portrait of a gentleman, full-length, in a white coat and embroidered waistcoat, holding a black hat, standing before a landscape oil on canvas 75.2 x 62.2cm (29 5/8 x 24 1/2in).
William Williams (1727-1791) Portrait of Henry, 1st Lord Mount Sandford reloading his fowling piece, with dogs in attendance Oil on canvas Inscribed Henry, 1st Lord Mount Sandford, Married Miss Oliver on label attached to stretcher 75 x 62.3 xm (29 1/2 x 24 1/4 in) Henry Moore Sanford, 1st Lord Mount Sandford of Castlerea, county Roscommon (1751-1814) married Katherine Oliver (1756-1818), daughter of Silver Oliver of Castle Oliver by Isabella, daughter of Richard Newham of Newbury. Henry Moore Sandford descendants of Captain Theophilus Sandford of Moyglare, county Meath, settled at Castlerea, county Roscommon, in the late 17th century and represented the county in Parliament. Henry Moore Sandford was created Baron Mount Sandford of Castlerea in July 1800, but the title became extinct in 1846 following the death of George Sandford, 3rd Baron and the Sandford estates which were in the parishes of Dysart, barony of Athlone, Drumatemple, barony of Ballymoe and Ballintober, Kilkeevin and Kiltullagh, barony of Castlereagh, passed to the families of his sisters Wills of Willsgrove, Pakenham and Newenham.
Study of a planter signed 'W.A. Williams' 1765 (upper right) and inscribed by another hand 'Williams 1762' (center left) red chalk on paper laid down on paper 16 7/16 x 10 1/4 in. (418 x 260 mm.)
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