Samuel Williams (c. 1817): Art, History and Details

Samuel Williams (c. 1817) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Washington Allston (American, 1779–1843).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Allston’s portrait of his London banker and business agent explores the experience of reverie. Williams looks off absently, perhaps inspired by the pictures in the book he holds. With its view of an Italianate landscape beyond the columns of this invented setting, the painting seemingly invites viewers to join the sitter in dreaming about faraway places.

Object facts

• Title: Samuel Williams
• Date: c. 1817
• Creator attribution: Washington Allston (American, 1779–1843)
• Culture: United States
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 172.5 x 142.5 x 14 cm (67 15/16 x 56 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.); Unframed: 142.2 x 111.8 cm (56 x 44 in.)
• Collection: American - Painting
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1965.474

A detail from the museum

Allston experimented with painting recipes, even attempting to mix his pigment colors with skimmed milk.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.