About the artist
William Stuart (1798-1882), a 19th-century artist, was known for his marine, military, and occasional still-life paintings. He left London for Australia aboard The Lincolnshire arriving in Melbourne on March 24, 1859. He was unsuccessful as a miner in Sandhurst (Bendigo) so Stuart set up shop as an artist. His makeshift studio is featured in an unfinished, unsigned painting housed in the Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia. An active participant in the Bendigo Volunteer Dramatic Club, he was a vibrant local personality. Nevertheless, his painting work was not lucrative, leading to his imprisonment for debt. In 1866, his work 'The Battle of Trafalga' was displayed at the Intercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne, followed by two oil paintings exhibited at the Victorian Academy of Arts in 1873. Although never a Royal Academy member, his obituary mistakenly referred to him as such. He died from pneumonia on October 25, 1873, in Bendigo, and was laid to rest in a pauper's grave in Sandhurst Cemetery.
