1810 Autograph Letter Signed by Hugh William Williams (1773–1829), Landscape Painter.

Williams writes to Edinburgh publishers Manners and Millar about a proposed publication to be sold by subscription

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Autograph letter signed from British landscape painter Hugh William Williams (1773–1829) concerning an unspecified proposed publication to be sold by subscription. Williams here writes to Edinburgh publishers Manners & Millar seeking their help “to promote such an undertaking.” Williams writes:

I have thought it prudent to publish by subscription, as the work will be attended with great expence. As soon as sufficient support appears on my list, I shall proceed, & this I would wish to ascertain, if possible, in the course of six weeks. I have reason to think it will answer well, chiefly thro the attentions of my friends, who allow me to eat like a Lord in state…

Per ODNB online: “By the time Williams had exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy, in 1800, he was living in Edinburgh once more. Shortly afterwards he appears also to have attempted to join the growing circle of professional watercolour painters active in London; he was a founding member (along with his fellow Scot Andrew Wilson) of the short-lived Associated Artists in Water-Colours in 1807. He was also a founding member of Scotland’s first exhibiting society, the Associated Society of Artists, formed in Edinburgh in 1808. Williams was always anxious to see his work reproduced in print; many of his early topographical drawings appeared in the Scots Magazine. In 1813 he published a series of six large engravings of scenes in the Scottish highlands. In June 1816 Williams embarked on an extensive journey through Italy and Greece… The material gathered on this journey was central to his output for the remainder of his career, and earned him the name Grecian Williams, by which he is known. An account of his journey, Travels in Italy, Greece and the Ionian Islands, appeared in 1820. ... In 1822 and 1826 Williams held exhibitions of the powerful watercolours, on a substantial scale, which he had produced after his travels. Another illustrated publication, his Select Views in Greece, appeared between 1823 and 1829. ... Although he painted a number of landscapes in oil, including a view of Castle Urquhart, Loch Ness (NG Scot.), Williams’s principal and more characteristic work was executed in watercolour, which he handled in broad washes of transparent colour. The influence of Turner on Williams’s work is not hard to detect. ... The most substantial group of his works, including some of his grandest views in Greece, are now in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.”

Price: $45.00