![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Alfred_George_Stevens_%25281817-1875%2529_-_William_Blundell_Spence_-_N02939_-_National_Gallery.jpg/640px-Alfred_George_Stevens_%25281817-1875%2529_-_William_Blundell_Spence_-_N02939_-_National_Gallery.jpg&w=640&q=50)
William Blundell Spence
British artist and dealer (1814–1900) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Blundell Spence (13 January 1814 – 23 January 1900) was an English painter and art dealer.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Alfred_George_Stevens_%281817-1875%29_-_William_Blundell_Spence_-_N02939_-_National_Gallery.jpg/640px-Alfred_George_Stevens_%281817-1875%29_-_William_Blundell_Spence_-_N02939_-_National_Gallery.jpg)
Born in Drypool, Yorkshire to noted entomologist William Spence and his wife Elizabeth Blundell, he spent the years 1826-1832 travelling abroad with his parents. In 1836, he settled in Florence, Italy, where he spent the rest of his life.[1]
As a painter, he specialized, mainly painting Alpine landscapes. At the 1870 Exhibition of Fine Arts in Parma, he exhibited an oil: Bagni of Lucca. Among other works are Dallo Porte Sante and La pensierosa. At Florence, in 1882: Veduta della Marina. In 1885, in the same city: Veduta del Chalet Plauta.[2]
Though not himself an entomologist, he joined the Entomological Society of London at its founding in 1833 and was noted as its longest-surviving original member.[3]