Description
William James Muller (1812-1845) Original oil on board, coastal landscape
Unsigned – inscribed on label verso “W. Jas Muller”
Oil on Board
Genuine Original Painting
Framed – Quality Heavy Frame with some minor losses – See photo
Painting Size – 30cm x 24cm Excluding Frame
In Good overall Condition with some minor losses & Craquelure present throughout – See photos for condition
William James Muller (1812-1845); oil on board, coastal landscape with figure in boat in foreground, a large dwelling beyond, unsigned, inscribed on label verso “W. Jas Muller”
Müller was born at Bristol, the son of J. S. Müller, a Prussian from Danzig, curator of the Bristol museum. He first studied painting under James Baker Pyne. His early pictures were mostly of the scenery of Gloucestershire and Wales, and he learned much from his study of Claude, Ruysdael, and earlier landscape-painters. In 1833 he exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time, showing Destruction of Old London Bridge-Morning. The next year he made a tour through France, Switzerland and Italy.
In 1838 he visited Athens, and travelled onwards to Alexandria and Cairo, where he spent two weeks before continuing up the Nile to Luxor, where he made drawings of the ruins and landscapes before returning to Cairo in mid-January. Shortly after his return he left Bristol and settled in London, where he exhibited regularly. His scenes of Egyptian streets and market proved especially popular. 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 at the request of the archaeologist Charles Fellows – but at his own expense – Müller and his pupil Harry Johnson accompanied the government expedition to Lycia. He spent three months sketching the landscape and local people around Xanthus, Pinara and Tlos. He spent most of the rest of his life, after his return to England, working on watercolours, and a few oils, of Lycian subjects.[1]
He died at Bristol on 8 September 1845. Following his death, his work was in great demand; leading to the production of a considerable number of fakes. A biography by Nathaniel Neal Solly was published in 1875.
Muller is buried in the Unitarian burial ground, Brunswick Cemetery, off Brunswick Square, Bristol. His grave is marked by a simple polished black stone slab inscribed “Sacred to the memory of William James Muller who died Sep 8th 1845 Aged 35 years”. His age, as given in the inscription is contrary to the burial records which record it as 33. The current tomb stone may be relatively modern, as the grave was recorded as being unmarked on a 1970s survey. A bust of the painter is located at the entrance to the cloister in Bristol Cathedral.
The British Museum possesses, through the bequest of John Henderson, a rich collection of Müller’s sketches. Biographies of Müller have been written by Solly (1875), Bunt (1948) and Greenacre and Stoddard (1991).
