William Anderson (1757–1837) was born in Scotland, where he became a shipwright. It was not until his thirties that he began to pursue painting seriously, choosing to specialise in marine painting, for which his training as a shipwright stood him in good stead. Anderson moved to London and based his style on the Dutch 17th-century masters.
He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1780 and continued to exhibit annually until 1811. He then exhibited intermittently until 1834. His best work was executed in the years 1790 to 1810 during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, at which time the demand for naval paintings was high.
Commissions took Anderson to the north of England and here he was introduced to the Hull school of painters. He had particular influence on the best painter of that school, John Ward (1798–1849). He also became great friends with the Yorkshire landscape painter Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759–1817), who is believed to have collaborated with him on some of his paintings.
Anderson's works can be found in the collections of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, the Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, and Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven.
