William Duffield was born in Bath, the son of a stationer and bookseller with a shop on Milsom Street. He specialised in still life painting – flowers, fruit and occasionally dead birds and animals. It is said that his death, at the age of only 47, resulted from an infection he contracted from a dead stag he was painting. Because Duffield had lost his sense of smell, he was unable to detect the dead animal’s dangerous state of putrefaction.

Pictures of flowers, fruit, and dead animals are particularly associated with the Dutch and Flemish artistic traditions. Appropriately, William Duffield went to Antwerp to study painting. Still life painting calls for great skill in depicting light and texture. Some artists have regarded it as an opportunity to show off their skill in creating realistic, illusionistic effects.