Rimmer, William

Rimmer, William

(1816–79) painter, sculptor; born in Liverpool, England. His family emigrated to the Boston area (1818), and his father claimed he was the lost Dauphin of France, a claim William also made. William grew up in poverty, and after working as a typesetter, cobbler, and self-taught doctor, he became a sculptor, painter, and respected teacher in New York and Boston. He is best known for his publication, The Elements of Design (1864), and for his mystical and enigmatic paintings, such as Flight and Pursuit (1872).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.