William Young Ottley

Born: 1771

Death: 1836

Biography:

William Young Ottley (6 August 1771 – 26 May 1836) was a British collector of and writer on art, amateur artist, and Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. He was an early English enthusiast for 14th- and 15th-century Italian art, or the 'Italian Primitives' as they were then often called. He spent the 1790s based in Rome, where he bought much art; this was sold for a considerable profit in 1801 after his return to London.