Sidney Richard Percy was born into the famous Williams family of painters. He exhibited his works in London at the Royal Academy and the British Institute at Suffolk Street from 1842 to 1886. Percy was the founder of the Barnes School and is one of the best known English landscape artists. Sidney Richard Percy was extremely popular during the early part of his career, which for a short time brought him a fair amount of income. Among his patrons during this time was Prince Albert the Royal consort who in 1854 gave Percy’s landscape of A view of LlynDulyn, North Wales, which had just been exhibited at the Royal Academy, as a gift to his wifeQueen Victoria.[8] This painting still hangs today in the Royal Collection. Unfortunately Sidney Richard Percy outlived his popularity, and the art world was more excited about impressionism and other styles than landscapes when he died. Today though, his work is much sought after, and his better paintings bring much higher prices in auction than any of those of his brethren in the Williams family.[10]This unusual subject matter of a rural chat with a threatening storm in the background is a good example of this artist’s skills.