(1798 - 1877)
Watercolourist William Evans was probably born at Eton College; the son of artist Samuel Evans, Drawing Master there from 1808. After attending Eton, William abandoned medical training to study under William Collins and Peter DeWint. He married in 1822 and succeeded his father as Drawing Master the following year. In 1830 he became a member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. After his wife died in 1837, he was left to care for their eight children. He bought a boys’ boarding house, Eton. Evan painted views of games and events at the college and his two views of the Eton ‘Montem’ (lithographed 1852) are now his best-known works. He resigned as Eton Drawing Master in 1853 to concentrate on painting. He died in Eton, aged 79.
