WILLIAM JAMES MÜLLER (BRISTOL 1812-1845)

In 1832 Müller exhibited at the newly-formed Bristol Society of Artists, at which John Sell Cotman (1814-1878) was a fellow exhibitor. The present study makes use of the technique (also favoured by Cotman) of dashing strokes formed by the 'wrong' end of the artist's brush. The British Museum holds a slightly smaller version of the present drawing (1878,1228.141), also inscribed ' Purfleet ' and with the addition of Müller's signature in monogram and the date 1841. Müller was based in London from 1840 to 1842, and his boating expeditions down the Thames resulted in several drawings and oil paintings of Gillingham and the Medway; for the present scene Müller is standing on the northern bank of the river.