Raised in Glasgow, John Williamson settled in Brooklyn where he painted landscapes and, as William Gerdts suggests "a single extant still life--probably in the 1860s--of three carefully delineated, fragile blossoms." (W. Gerdts and R. Burke, American Still-life Painting, New York, 1971, p. 108) This work undeniably correlates with the above cited, rendering Flowers and Butterflies an exceptionally rare and unique example of mid-nineteenth century still- life painting.