William Oxer | Classical style painter

William Oxer is a British artist of portraits, portrait commissions, abstracts, landscapes and seascapes, using gold leaf and classical techniques to produce contemporary artwork.

His primary work is in figurative art; portraiture, classical studies of figures and landscape painting, although commissioned work has included large scale abstracts. He paints mainly with acrylic or oil paints on canvas and his style can be immediately recognised as romantic and classical.

I have been painting professionally for over 25 years, undertaking regular portrait commissions for private clients and producing artworks for art-gallery exhibitions. I work mainly with acrylic paints on canvas.

My style can be immediately recognised as romantic and traditional, however it increasingly carries hidden meaning and complex allusions to mythology, philosophy, or classical and religious iconography. My paintings use subtle allusions, picking up on the notion of perfect love and playing on the word "passion", as in Troilus and Cressida, Romeo and Juliet or Dante’s Beatrice.

I currently live and work by the sea in Devon, with my Chocolate Labrador, Lolly.

Previous engagements include creating large-scale painted designs for interior projects in historic houses including Goodwood House, Buckingham Palace, Petworth House and Hatchlands Park - William Oxer.