William Francis Taylor was born in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 26, 1883. There he attended Church of England schools as a boy and, later, the Collegiate Institute. The extent of Taylor's early art training is unclear. In 1898, at the age of fifteen, he began working as a lithographer with a Hamilton, Ontario, newspaper and continued there as an artist and cartoonist until 1905.

Taylor began taking classes at the Art Students League in 1905 shortly after arriving in New York, and continued his studies there until 1907. Between 1908 and 1912 he was the advertising art director for the New York Journal. From 1912 until his retirement in 1948, he worked as a freelance artist, graphic engineer, and illustrator for several large manufacturing companies, including A. G. Spalding and Brothers, the sporting goods giant.

It is likely that he met William L. Lathrop while studying at the Art Students League. According to family lore Taylor was invited by Lathrop to visit New Hope and stay for a few days at Lathrop's Phillips Mill home. The two men became good friends, and by 1910 Taylor had moved to the New Hope area, where he soon took an active part in the local artists community.

Taylor became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1913, the year he married Mary Smyth Perkins of Philadelphia. Perkins, a gifted painter and art instructor, met Taylor at Phillips Mill, where she had been studying with Lathrop since 1906. The couple moved to Hill House on Taylor's Cuttalossa Road property, near River Road in Lumberville. During the early years of the Great Depression, they ran the Hard Times Tavern, located opposite the Cuttalossa Inn. His daughter recollected stories about visitors such as author Dorothy Parker and athlete Johnny Weismuller, the original "Tarzan," who were frequent guests at the inn. Perkins died of cancer in December 1931. Two years later Taylor married Minette Emelia Gunderson from Trenton, New Jersey. The couple had a son, William Francis Jr., and a daughter, Phyllis Anne.

Taylor was adept in many media. In addition to the oil portraits and landscapes for which lie is most noted, he was also an accomplished lithographer, illustrator, and cartoonist. The Delaware River, which Taylor could see from his house, served as a frequent theme and inspiration for his paintings.

Taylor had a deep commitment to the land that he painted. An ardent conservationist, he was the founding president of the Delaware Valley Protective Association, a citizen organization formed in the early I930s when the state considered draining and paving over the canal. He remained active in the organization as publicist and member for most of his life. He was also president of the Phillips Mill Community Association and a member of the New Hope Artists and Writers Association. Other memberships included the Salmagundi Club, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, and the Asbury Park Society of Fine Arts.

He received the medal for lithography from the Province of Ontario in 1902; three Salmagundi Club prizes, in 1924, 1927, and 1932; and a Philadelphia Art Club award in 1924. His work is in the permanent collections of museums in the United States and Canada, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as in private collections throughout the United States. He died on October 14, 1970.

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton