William Paxton is one of America's most important figurative painters. Along with his colleagues Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson, they were key members of the Boston School of painting, which flourished during the first quarter of this century. Known for his descriptive paintings of the leisure class, Paxton placed his graceful figures in settings rich in texture and color. He approached them with the gifts of a true draftsman and instinctive colorist. His taste in color was singular and developed by much thought and observation. He delighted in blues and lavenders, orchid pinks and citron yellows. His deliberate use of color produced the most tactile and supple depictions of flesh tone in both his portraits and especially in his nudes.