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Samuel Williams
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this 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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineSamuel Williams, c. 1817. Washington Allston (American, 1779–1843). Oil on canvas; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1965.474
