William Mellor

19th Century landscape oil painting of Rydal Lake in the Lake District

C1890

William Mellor is best known for his landscapes of woodland with streams and hills in rural Wales, England and Scotland. He has a particular talent for detail with soft sunbathed light, filtering through trees in wood and golden tones. He worked and lived in Yorkshire, the Lake District, Scarborough and Wales, away from the artistic centers of London and Edinburgh/Glasgow. Mellor was the son of artist Joseph Mellor, who flourished as an artist from 1850, and the years following the birth of his son William in 1851. He died in 1885. Joseph Mellor painted woodlands and rural landscapes, sharing much of his style with his son. Both father and son excelled in creating atmospheric rural scenes with soft light, with Mellor especially developing the golden tones of autumn in his work. While William Mellor did not exhibit widely his work was renowned regionally. His plein art style renders a tenderness in simple rural scenes rather than the dramatic mountains and landscapes of other artists of his time. His work, and that of his father, continues to be popular among collectors of fine 19th century landscapes today.