William Derby
(1786-1847), Watercolour and miniature painterSitter in 1 portrait
Artist associated with 133 portraits
William Derby studied drawing with the landscape painter Joseph Barber. He moved to London in 1808, where he painted portraits in oils and watercolour, and miniatures. In 1825, he took over the copying of images for Edmund Lodge's Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain from William Hilton; these were completed in 1834. Derby was commissioned by the Earl of Derby to make a series of watercolour drawings of the portraits of his ancestors from the reign of Henry VII onward, which were scattered around the country. William Derby exhibited many paintings, mainly portraits, at the Royal Academy between 1811 and 1837, and also exhibited at the Society of British Artists.
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