William Redmore Bigg ( Felsted, Essex 6 January 1755 – 6 February 1828 London) was a British painter. Bigg was born in

Felsted Felsted (sometimes spelt Felstead) is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bannister Green, Bartholomew Green, Causeway End, Coblers Green, Cock Green, Frenches Gre ...

in Essex to William and Grace Bigg. He enrolled in the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

schools in 1778 where he studied under Edward Penny (1714–1791) whose forte was depicting acts of charity. Bigg's greatest delight was in painting children. His first work in this genre to be exhibited in 1778 was ''Schoolboys giving Charity to a Blind Man''. A year later he painted a similar work, ''A Lady and her Children relieving a Distressed Cottager''. Apart from these his ''Palemon and Lavinia'', the ''Shipwrecked Sailor Boy'', and ''Youths relieving a Blind Man'' were very well received, and all were engraved. His subject choice and execution place him with

Wheatley Wheatley may refer to: Places * Wheatley (crater), on Venus * Wheatley, Ontario, Canada * Wheatley, Hampshire, England * Wheatley, Oxfordshire, England ** Wheatley railway station * Wheatley, South Yorkshire, England * Wheatley, now Ben Rhydding, ...

and

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

. Bigg produced many small portraits in oil and pastel, as well as rustic genre paintings. His genre paintings and portraits have great charm and were highly popular in his day, the best engravers being used to render his work.Donald Heald
/ref> Bigg exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

until his death. After having been an associate for many years, he was elected an RA in 1814. He died in London.

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* 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters 1755 births 1828 deaths Royal Academicians 19th-century English male artists 18th-century English male artists {{England-painter-stub