William Sadler was born about 1782 and practiced in Dublin as a painter, producing mainly views of neighbourhoods of the city and its environs. He was known to have produced many copies of the old masters and was fond of painting dramatic scenes, ones of conflagrations being quite numerous.
Known particularly for his competent, atmospheric and topographically interesting views of the countryside around Dublin, Sadler remains an enigma in the history of 19th century Irish art. This is partially
because his father, William (fl.1768-1788) and his own son, also William (b.1808) painted somewhat similar scenes in a vaguely similar style and can be confused. William Sadler II, however, stands out as being a better painter than either his father or his son. He is also credited as having taught painting and counted James Arthur OConnor as one of his pupils.
In his 1913 Dictionary of Irish Artists, Walter Strickland notes however that he finally settled in Manders Building in Ranelagh where he died in December 1839. Sadler was greatly influenced by and did many copies of the Old Masters, particularly Dutch painters and this influence is seen in his landscape compositions with small figural groups. He also incorporated their technique of painting bright highlights to accentuate the almost three dimensional effect of his figures.
He was a regular contributor to exhibitions in the city between 1809 and 1821. He later exhibited at the newly formed Royal Hibernian Academy.
He produced works that depicted key events in the city of Dublin such as the fire at the Royal Arcade in 1837 as well as imagined views of places further afield such as Vesuvius Erupting.
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