William Morrison Wyllie
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William Morrison Wyllie (12 December 1820 – 13 March 1895)[1] was a British painter,[2] known for his coastal and maritime subjects. A number of his works are in the Southwark Art Collection.[3] Other collections which hold examples include the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.[4]
Wyllie was born in Aix-les-Bains, Provence, France[5] in 1820 to parents William Wyllie, a gentleman,[6] and Martha Morrison. He was baptised 20 July 1822 in Forfar, Angus.[7]
Career
Wyllie was known for his paintings of maritime and coastal scenes, in both watercolors and oils. His maritime scenes capture coastal living of the French and British in the nineteenth century. Wyllie depicted various types of trading sailboats, along with fishermen and women working along the shore-side, revealing the "labourous fishing industry" and highlighting the workers daily struggles.[8] Other paintings capture traders in past French marketplaces, and The Soldier's Farewell from 1871, captures a young man leaving home to go to war (likely the Franco-Prussian War).[9]
His style is generally loose and Wyllie is known for his ability to capture "large sun-blushed skies and rolling, powerful seas" that "charge his paintings with dramatic moods."[8]
He also painted two interiors of parliament; the first was in 1878 of the House of Commons, and the second was of the House of Lords in 1883.[8] The paintings are said to have "successfully capturing the atmospheres of Britain's political chambers" and both are held in the collection of the Palace of Westminster.[8]
