Privilege and Poverty: The Life and Times of Irish Painter & Naturalist Alexander Williams RHA 1846-1930

Gordon Ledbetter

The last entry in Williams’ diary dates from 1930, when he was 84, while one of his earliest watercolours is signed and dated 1866. Visitors to the Lake Hotel in Killarney, where there is a large collection of his work, will be familiar with Williams’ views of Kerry scenery. Over the years, he produced a visual record of the Irish coastline, concentrating on Dublin, Connemara, Achill and Kerry, Although best known today as a landscape painter, Williams also produced studies of birds, flowers and other aspects of natural history.

The gardens at Bleanaskill Lodge on Achill are shaded by the Monterey Pines he planted there over a century ago. He was a committed artist who was also a part-time chorister in Christchurch Cathedral, while simultaneously pursuing a career as a taxidermist, and hatter.