Ce catalogue a été édité à l'occasion de l'exposition  William Stott of Oldham 1857-1900 "A Comet rushing to the Sun" présentée à la Gallery Oldham, du 6 décembre 2003 au 24 avril 2004.

William Stott, son of an Oldham mill owner, left for Paris in 1878, at the age of twenty, to train with Jean-Léon Gérôme. Adopting a realistic style of painting, he achieved rapid success, being medalled at the Paris Salon in 1882 for his painting The Bathing Place (Munich).

He quickly became a hero figure among the British and American artists in Paris and was an influential member of the international colony of artists at Grez-sur-Loing, near Paris.

In 1889 he had a one-man exhibition at Durand-Ruel's Gallery in Paris.

On returning to England he became a follower and close friend of James McNeill Whistler, until his painting of Whistler's mistress, Maud Franklin, depicted naked as Venus born of the Sea Foam (Oldham Gallery), caused a rift between them. In his latter years, he exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, mainly higlly decorative works depicting scenes from mythology.

He died in 1900 at the age of forty-two while on a sea-crossing to Ireland.