Little is known about William Anderson’s early life except that he was born in Sutherland, Scotland and became a shipwright. He also learned to be a very finished painter and about his thirtieth year he made his way to London and set up as a marine painter. His style is strongly influenced by the 17th century Dutch school and though he lived well into the 19th century, he never made any concessions to the Romantic Movement. Although he painted some large canvases he is best known for his small, sometimes rather vapid calms, which sold well and still do. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1787 and at the British Institution in 1810. Not all his exhibited paintings were marines: in 1822 his exhibit at the British Institution was a “Battle of Waterloo”. At the Royal Academy in 1824 he exhibited a view of Berwick-on-Tweed and another of Tynemouth, which indicate the date that he journeyed to the north east. Here he became an influence on the Hull school of painters and particularly on the best of them, young John Ward, who copied at least one of his paintings of Greenwich Reach. Anderson’s last exhibit at the Royal Academy, in 1834, was a major work, “Lord Howe’s fleet at Spithead”. He died in London on May 27th, 1837.
He was a friend of Julius Caesar Ibbotson, who is believed to have collaborated with him on some paintings. His son, William Guido Anderson joined the Royal Navy and was mortally wounded at the Battle of Copenhagen as midshipman in the Bellona. In 1799 he exhibited a painting at the Royal Academy called “The Wolverine engaging two French luggers”.
