William Payne AOWS Greenhithe, Kent

William Payne AOWS (1760–1830)

William Payne AOWS (1760–1830) was an innovative watercolour painter and the most fashionable drawing master in London of his day. His significance as an artist lies in his development of the watercolour medium, from tinted drawing with prominent pen outlines to pure painting built up in washes. Working in a monochrome, neutral palette, he developed a blue-grey tint known still as 'Payne's Grey', composed of indigo, raw sienna and lake. His other innovations included splitting the brush to give forms of foliage, dragging tints to give texture to foregrounds, and taking out the forms of lights by wetting the surface and rubbing with bread and rag. He was one of the first artists to abandon topographical draughtsmanship for a more poetical treatment of landscape subjects. His new, effective and distinctive style could be easily learnt and led to him becoming an extremely successful drawing master.

Born in Westminster, London, William Payne received some drawing lessons, possibly from Paul Sandby, and in 1778 was appointed a 'fifth class' draughtsman by the Board of Ordnance and worked in its Drawing Room at the Tower of London. By 1783, he had been promoted to the second class and was sent to Plymouth Dock. During his time in Plymouth he began to develop a distinct artistic career, exhibiting West Country views at the Royal Academy of Arts 1786–1790. He secured a permanent address in London by the end of 1789. In 1809 he relaunched himself as an exhibiting artist, showing at the British Institution and being elected associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colours. His work is said to have been highly esteemed by his contemporaries, including Sir Joshua Reynolds who praised his Devonshire views. Towards the end of his life Payne's work declined in popularity and he died at home in London in 1830.