William Stott (1857 – 1900) was a British painter born in Oldham, Lancashire, England. He was the son of an Oldham cotton mill owner. After studying in Oldham and Manchester he went to Paris and studied under the French painter, Jean-Léon Gérôme ^[1] and achieved rapid success, exhibiting regularly at the Paris Salon. He was an influential member of the artists' colony at Grez-sur-Loing which was full of English, Irish, Scottish, and American artists. In 1889 he held a one-man show at the Durand-Ruel Gallery, famous for its showing of the French Impressionists.

For much of his career, Stott painted impressionist landscapes, but during the late 1880’s began to move towards pictures involving classical figures and allegorical themes, such as ‘The Nymph’ of 1886, and ‘The Birth of Venus’ of 1887.

From the year 1882, Stott always signed himself ‘of Oldham’ - said to be an allusion to his proud Oldham roots.

Walter Richard Sickert described him as ‘one of the two greatest living painters of the world’.