Willem Antonie van Deventer was a Dutch painter, draftsman, watercolorist, etcher and lithographer .

Van Deventer received his first painting lessons from his uncle Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen, as did his brother Jan Frederik van Deventer, who was a landscape painter. From 1843 to 1846 he then attended the Hague Academy of Fine Arts, where the marine painters Sam Verveer and Antonie Waldorp taught. He also trained at the Academy of Visual Arts in Amsterdam . In 1844, at the invitation of the Royal Navy, he made a five - month voyage in the Mediterranean .

Van Deventer had several well-known painters as friends, including Jacob Maris, Willem Roelofs and Jan Weissenbruch. In 1847, together with them, he founded the Pulchri Studio .

His specialties were landscapes, river views, beach views, harbor views, ship images and city ​​views. Trained in the romantic tradition, he became a realistic painter with a bright palette and free touch. He worked in Amsterdam for a few years, but left for The Hague again in 1862. His work is on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam .