William Davis was an Irish artist, and part of a group of Liverpool based artists who were influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite style of painting.

He was born in Dublin, received his artistic education there and begun his career as a portrait painter. He moved to Liverpool in 1842 and began to exhibit in the Liverpool Academy. In 1851, he started to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Originally painting still lives in 1853 he began producing landscapes. His work was admired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown, through which he was asked to join the Hogarth club.