Benjamin Williams Leader

Benjamin Williams Leader painted the British countryside in calm, clear detail: quiet rivers, woodland pools, church towers and farm lanes under wide skies. He was one of the most popular landscape painters of Victorian England.

Born in Worcester as Benjamin Leader Williams, he changed his name in 1857 to avoid confusion with other painters called Williams. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools and painted in Worcestershire, Wales, Scotland and Surrey. His early work was detailed and painted outdoors in the Pre-Raphaelite spirit, and later his touch became looser. His best known picture is February Fill Dyke (1881), a wet winter lane at dusk, in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. He became a Royal Academician in 1898.

A Quiet Pool in Glenfalloch, painted in Scotland in 1859, shows his early careful style, with every rock and leaf picked out.