active 19th century Harry Willson

Very little biographical information about this author could be confirmed from the sources available online. Project Gutenberg and other catalog records identify Harry Willson simply as a 19th-century author and associate him with The Use of a Box of Colours, in a Practical Demonstration on Composition, Light and Shade, and Colour.

That book was published in 1842, with later editions also appearing under the related title A Practical Treatise on Composition, Light and Shade, and Colour. From the work itself and library records, Willson appears to have written for students and aspiring painters, aiming to explain artistic principles in a direct, usable way rather than in a highly academic style.

Because reliable sources do not seem to preserve fuller personal details, much of his life remains obscure. Even so, his surviving book offers a clear glimpse of a practical Victorian-era approach to teaching art.