Figure 1.-- This is the first John Edgar Williams that we have found. We at first thought this was a genre beach scene. It looks to be almost a naive folk scene. But we found later it was a portrait of siblings Sir Bruce Chichester 2nd Bt Chichester of Arlington (1842-81) and his Sister Caroline, later Lady Clay (1839-73). We thought it might be a watercolor, but it is an oil painting done about 1848 as Bruce looks to be about 6 years old and Caroline looks to be about 10 years old. We apparently were a year off. The National Trust reports that the paining was signed and dated (1849). That would make the children 7 and 11 years old. Bruce wears a white dress with red trim and a plaid sash and string attachments which we had never seen before. There may be Russian tunic styling which we had never seen before in the 1840s. He also wears panatalettes which barely show. We are not sure at all what Caroline was wearing.

We have been unable to find any biographical information on John Edgar Williams other than he was born some where in England (1821). The Industrial Revolution was jusr beguinning to transform Britain. We note two Williams paintings in the 1840s and 50s. The 1850sportrait seems much improved. Williams was not a particularly prolific artist. His last portrait was painted (1888), shortly before his death (1891).

Chichester Beach Scene (1849)

The first work of interest was what we first thought was a genre beach scene (figure 1). We think that the children were painted Brighton. If you look closely at the right you can see Indo-Islamic looking buildings (Indo-Saracenic style). This was probably King George IV's famous Royal Pavilion which can still be seen today. It was built beginning (1787) while George was still Prince of Wales. Queen Victoria also used the buiding, but eventully settled on Osborne House for summer beach life and sold the Royal Paviion to the City of Brighton. Donkeys were an important feature of English beaches. It looks to be almost a naive folk scene. But we found later it was siblings Sir Bruce Chichester 2nd Bt Chichester of Arlington (1842-81) and his Sister Caroline, later Lady Clay (1839-73). We thought it might be a watercolor, but it is an oil painting done about 1848 as Bruce looks to be about 6 years old and Caroline looks to be about 10 years old. We apparently were a year off. The National Trust reports that the paining was signed and dated (1849). That would make the children 7 and 11 years old. Bruce wears a white dress with red trim and a plaid sash and string attachments which we had never seen before. There may be Russian tunic styling which we had never seen before in the 1840s. He lso wears panatalettes which barely show. We are not sure at all what Caroline was wearing.

Izod Children: The Young Microscopists (1857)

Williams' work seems to have improved. We are not sure why. Another much more impressive work is 'The young Microscopists', a portrait of Frank, Harry and Arthur Izod Richards, aged 5, 8, and 10 years old (1857). We know nothing about the Izod fmily. The boys are playing with a microscope. The microscope was invented in the late-16th century. This led to some actual scientific discoveries (18th century), but it was not until the next century that huge advances were made (19th century). By that time. science began to come into its own when countless important discoveries occurred. Microscopes by the end of the century were so common that even children had access to them.

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Created: 4:30 PM 6/7/2025
Last updated: 3:34 AM 6/8/2025