William van de Velde Bonfield was the son of the artist George Robert Bonfield (1805–1898), who named him after the famous Dutch marine painter Willem van de Velde the Younger (1633-1707), in turn the son of the painter Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611-1693). The elder Bonfield may have seen works by van de Velde in Joseph Bonaparte’s collection at Point Breeze near Bordentown; he is also documented as having owned engravings after the Dutch artist’s paintings. The younger Bonfield worked mainly in New Jersey and the southeastern part of Pennsylvania. He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia from 1861 to 1869,1 and he was noted for picturesque winter snow scenes.. Notes 1. Peter Hastings Falk, ed., Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1807-1870 (Madison, Conn.: Soundview Press, 1988), p. 236, lists the artist as William Bonfield Van de Velde. See Edith Gaines, "That Ubiquitous Winter Traveler," Antiques, vol. 99 (March 1971), p. 418.