William Thompson Walters (May 23, 1820 - November 22, 1894) was an American businessman and art collector, whose collection formed the basis of the Walters Art Museum

Walters Art Museum

The Walters Art Museum, located in Baltimore, Maryland's Mount Vernon neighborhood, is a public art museum founded in 1934. The museum's collection was amassed substantially by two men, William Thompson Walters , who began serious collecting when he moved to Paris at the outbreak of the American...

.

Biography

He was born in Liverpool, Pennsylvania

Liverpool, Pennsylvania

Liverpool is a borough in Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States, about from Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area...

 in 1819. He was educated as a civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

, but became interested in the coal and iron industry, and while in charge of a smelting establishment in Pennsylvania produced the first iron manufactured from mineral coal in the United States. He moved to Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 in 1841, where he worked as a grain merchant and in 1847 established himself there as a liquor wholesaler.

His success in business secured, he turned to art collection, purchasing contemporary American and European works. During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, he lived in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. He traveled widely in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 the interest of art, and purchased numerous additions for his collection. Returning to the United States after the end of hostilities, and putting his money into banking and railroads. He also began to collect Asian art, alongside contemporary paintings. His private collection became one of the largest and most valuable in the United States.

From 1874 onwards, Walters opened his house in Mount Vernon Place to the public most springs, with a 50 cent entrance fee going towards charity. This annual exhibit of his gallery netted $30,000 for the poor of Baltimore. He was United States commissioner at the Paris expositions of 1867 and 1878, and also to that at Vienna in 1873.

At his death in 1894, Walter' collection passed to his son, Henry Walters

Henry Walters

Henry Walters was president of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad until he retired in 1902. He was founder of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.-Biography:...

, who expanded it and founded the Walters Gallery (now the Walters Art Museum).

Works

Among his writings are:

• Barye (1885)
• Notes Upon Certain Masters of the 19th Century (1886)

Sources

• William R. Johnston, William and Henry Walters: The Reticent Collectors (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999).