English maritime painter who lived in London, England; and Wimereux, France.

William Morrison Wyllie was a minor-genre painter of maritme and coastal scenes, in both watercolours and oils. Wyllie's maritime scenes capture a true sense of nineteenth century British and French coastal living. Accurate depictions of fishermen and women working along the shoreside (such as Fisher Girls, GA0665) reveal those very characters within the labourous fishing industry, and highlights their daily toils. Depictions of various types of trading sailboat provide us with an insight into a bygone era of British and French coastal life. Other paintings by Wyllie capture the busy actitivies of traders in ancient French marketplaces. Wyllie's loose painterly style and ability to capture large sun-blushed skies and rolling, powerful seas, charge his paintings with dramatic moods. Other works held in the collection include less dramatic, rural landscapes containing sheep.

As a siginficant departure from his martime theme, Wyllie also painted two parliamentary interiors; one of the House of Commons (1878) and the other of the House of Lords (1883), successfully capturing the atmospheres of Britain's political chambers. Both paintings are held in the Palace of Westminster collection. Wyllie's eldest son, William Lionel Wyllie (1851-1932), was also a well established painter of martime and Thames river scenes.