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William James Muller

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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WILLIAM JAMES MULLER (1812-1845), English landscape and figure painter, was born at Bristol on the 28th of June 1812, his father, a Prussian, being curator of the museum. He first studied painting under J. B. Pyne. His early subjects deal mainly with the scenery of Gloucestershire and Wales, and he learned much from his study of Claude, Ruysdael, and earlier landscape-painters. In 1833 he figured for the first time in the Royal Academy with his "Destruction of Old London Bridge - Morning," and next year he made a tour through France, Switzerland and Italy. Four years later he visited Athens, extending his travels to Egypt, and in the sketches executed during this period and the paintings produced from them his power and individuality are apparent. Shortly after his return he left Bristol and settled in London, where he exhibited regularly. In 1840 he again visited France, where he executed a series of sketches of Renaissance architecture, twenty-five of which were lithographed and published in 1841, in a folio entitled The Age of Francis I. of France. In 1843 he accompanied, at his own request and his own charges, the government expedition to Lycia, where he made a number of masterly sketches. He died at Bristol on the 8th of September 1845.

The print room of the British Museum possesses, through the bequest of Mr John Henderson, a rich collection of Miiller's sketches. A biography by N. Neal Solly was published in 1875.