Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maitland, William Fuller
MAITLAND, WILLIAM FULLER (1813–1876), picture collector, born 10 March 1813, was the second, but eldest surviving, son and heir of Ebenezer Fuller Maitland, of Stansted, Essex, and Park Place, Henley-on-Thames. He was educated by private tutors until he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1835, and M.A. in 1839. Although he never had regular or technical artistic training, he developed very early in life a remarkable love for pictures and an insight into merit in the case of artists whose excellence was at that time unrecognised. During several journeys to Italy he became acquainted with the works of the early Italian masters, and formed the basis of an important part of his collection, at a time when the work of Botticelli and others was wholly unappreciated by the artistic world. The finest schools of English landscape painting were largely represented in his collection. From the time of his first marriage, with Lydia, only daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Serjentson Prescott, which took place in Florence in 1842, until his death, he lived at Stansted. His literary taste, and his love of sport and everything connected with outdoor life were among his most prominent characteristics, and he was almost as great an authority on the merits of a dog as on those of a picture. He died suddenly at Stansted 15 Feb. 1876, and was buried there 19 Feb. Contrary to usual custom, a vote of condolence was passed by the Royal Academy to his widow, and it was acknowledged that he had largely contributed to the success of the Royal Academy Old Masters' Exhibitions, to which during many years he lent pictures. After his death the bulk of the collection was exhibited at the South Kensington Museum; and subsequently nine of the most important pictures were sold to the National Gallery.
Four children were the issue of his first marriage, and by his second wife, Charlotte Elizabeth Dick, daughter of James Munro Macnabb, whom he married in 1852, he had an only daughter.
[G. H. Rogers-Harrison's Genealogical and Historical Account of the Maitland Family (privately printed), 1869; Graduati Cantabrigienses; Edward T. Cook's Handbook to the National Gallery; private information and personal knowledge.]