The interior of St. Peter's, Rome

William Walcot, the son of an English father and Russian mother, was born near Odessa in 1874. After spending his childhood travelling with his father through Europe and South America he trained at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris and later at the Imperial Academy of Art, St. Petersburg. Whilst practising as an architect in Moscow from 1897-1905 he married a lady-in-waiting at the Russian Court. Leaving for England in 1905, Walcot moved to London where the Fine Art Society exhibited his work, and commissioned him to produce a series of views of European cities, including London, Venice and Rome; he also painted in New York, India and Egypt.