Henry Wallis (1830-1916) was an artist, ceramics expert and collector. He achieved acclaim as a painter with the exhibition of his portrait 'The Death of Chatterton' at the Royal Academy in 1856, and followed up his success with 'The Stonebreaker', which was exhibited in 1858. Although he continued to paint and exhibit, he became increasingly interested in archaeology and ceramics. He travelled extensively and became an authority on Persian, Egyptian, Greek and Byzantine ceramics. He wrote and illustrated twenty volumes on ceramics during the period 1885-1899. For further details see Dictionary of National Biography and Timothy Wilson's article, 'A Victorian artist as ceramic collector: the letters of Henry Wallis', parts 1-2, Journal of the History of Collections, 14, no.1 (2002) pp.139-159 and no.2 (2002) pp.231-269.