Biography:

William E. Winner was born in Philadelphia and spent his life there, with the exception of a visit to Charleston in 1848. He does not appear in the student records of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, but is listed as an Associate in 1847 and 1860. His exhibition record at the Academy is remarkable for its longevity (1836–81) and range of subjects (portraits, landscapes, genre, literary, historical, and religious). He also
exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum, and at the Apollo Association, the American Art Union, and the National Academy of Design in New York.