Lot 408: WILLIAM DAVIS (Irish, 1812-1873) Caernarvon Castle

WILLIAM DAVIS (Irish, 1812-1873) Caernarvon Castle oil on canvas, titled and attributed on frame plaque 41cm x 65cm Provenance: Hartnoll Gallery London label verso. Note: William Davis was trained in Dublin and exhibited portraits at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1833 to 1835. He was in Sheffield in 1837 and by 1846 was in Liverpool, probably drawn there by the flourishing Liverpool Academy. He exhibited at the Academy from 1842 to 1844, became a Member in 1853 and Professor of drawing from 1856 to 1859. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy in London (1851-72) and at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition (1871-3). He turned from figure and still-life subjects of game to landscape painting c. 1853, probably persuaded by his chief patron, the tobacco merchant John Miller and influenced by the Liverpool landscape painter Robert Tonge (1823-56). He soon became a key figure within the Liverpool Pre-Raphaelite school and both Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown became close associates. A member of The Hogarth Club.