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William Joseph Bond developed from an early Pre-Raphaelitism to a more bravura handling that absorbed the influence of J M W Turner and many of his own Liverpool contemporaries. Inspired by the sketching tours that he made across England and Wales, he tended to produce luminous small oils of coastal scenes enlivened by small fishing boats. His decision to add ‘Julius Caesar’ to his name led to his distinctive signature, with its many initials, which in turn gave rise to the nickname, ‘Alphabet Bond’.
William Joseph Bond was born in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, on 22 August 1833, the son of William Bond, who kept a private school, and his wife, Susannah. He received his early education at home, and was then sent for a few years to Stonyhurst, the Jesuit college in the Ribble Valley. When his father gave up his school, he was apprenticed to Thomas Griffiths, a miniature painter, picture dealer and restorer, in Liverpool, ‘to learn the whole trade and business of a picture restorer and cleaner’.
