William Oram (Born circa 1711, died 1777) was an English painter and architect.

Life

Oram was educated as an architect, and, through the patronage of Sir Edward Walpole, obtained the position of master-carpenter to the Board of Works. He designed a triumphal arch for the coronation of

George III of Great Britain George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, of which an engraving was published. Oram also devoted much time to landscape-painting in the style of

Gaspar Poussin Gaspard Dughet (15 June 1615 – 25 May 1675), also known as Gaspard Poussin, was a French painter born in Rome. Life Dughet was born in Rome, the son of a French pastry-cook and his Italian wife. He has always generally been considered as a Fr ...

Oram was generally known as "Old Oram", to distinguish him from his son. He died on 17 March 1777, leaving a widow and a son, Edward Oram ( fl. 1770–1800), also a landscape-painter.

Works

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's opinion was that Oram painted in the style of

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, and had probably been his pupil. He also produced watercolour drawings, in the manner of Richard Wilson. Oram's works were often applied to decorative purposes and inserted over doors and mantelpieces. He designed and painted the staircase at Buckingham House, and was employed to repair the paintings on the staircase at

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. He published an etching of

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in 1745. In 1766 he exhibited three landscapes at the Society of Artists' exhibition.

Legacy

In his will, dated 4 January 1776, and proved 17 March 1777, Oram described himself as of St. John's, Hampstead, and left everything to his wife Elizabeth. She then gave his manuscripts to his close relative the antiquarian

Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life T ...

, who in 1810 published from them ''Precepts and Observations on the Art of Colouring in Landscape-Painting, by the late William Oram, esq., of his Majesty's Board of Works''.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Oram, William 1777 deaths 18th-century English architects 18th-century English painters English male painters Landscape artists Year of birth uncertain 18th-century English male artists