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One of the leading artists to come from Liverpool, alongside Stubbs and Augustus John.
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William Huggins began his career as a student at the life classes of the Liverpool Academy. In 1847 he became an associate of the Liverpool Academy and a member in 1850. He is primarily known for his studies on animals, including lions, donkeys and domestic poultry, sometimes depicting them within historical settings such as David in the Lion’s Den. A Bengal Tiger was painted when Huggins was just eighteen. His choice of exotic animals was made possible by the proximity of Liverpool’s Zoological Gardens, and Wombwell’s Travelling Menagerie, which he was reputed to have stalked on its local circuit.
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An eccentric individual, he is said to have preferred the company of chickens to his fellow men and had such a fear of tunnels that he would get off the train before Liverpool and walk the rest of the way home. He spent most of his life in the Liverpool area, where he had built up a strong follower amongst collectors. In 1861 he moved south to Chester, returning there in the late 1880’s after a period in Bettws-y-Coed, where he had moved in 1876.
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