William James Stillman (American, 1828–1901)

b. 1828 — d. 1901

William James Stillman American, 1828-1901 William Stillman was an artist, writer, journalist, and diplomat. In 1849, shortly after graduating from Union College in his native Schenectady, New York, Stillman made the acquaintance of art critic and social reformer John Ruskin in London. Returning to New York after his European travels, he founded and edited the Crayon, the first serious American journal of the arts and known for its strong Ruskinian views. In 1860 Stillman traveled with Ruskin to the Alps, a journey that severely strained their relationship. During the American Civil War, Stillman was posted as consul in Rome, and later Crete and Athens, where he photographed the Acropolis. The resulting volume, The Acropolis of Athens Illustrated Picturesquely and Architecturally in Photography, was published in London in 1870 and is among his best work. After the 1869 suicide of Stillman's wife in Athens, his son required hospitalization in London. In 1871 Stillman married Marie Spartali, daughter of the Greek consul in London. Closely tied to the Rossettis and Julia Margaret Cameron, the couple was immersed in the milieu of the Pre-Raphaelites, and both Stillman and Spartali appear as models in works of the period. From 1875-96 Stillman served as a correspondent for the London Times and frequently traveled to the United States. His later work includes Poetic Localities of Cambridge, illustrated with collotypes and published in Boston in 1876, as well as his two-volume Autobiography of a Journalist. He retired to Surrey in 1898. T.W.F.