 William H. Low From Low's A Chronicle of Friendships, 1873-1900 (New York: Charles Scribners & Sons, 1908), p. 4. "Industrious idleness it was to him; for his mind was a treasure-house, where every addition to its store was carefully guarded against the day of need. Many incidents of our common experience, long forgotten by me, I have thus met in fresh guise in after years"
(Will Low, A Chronicle of Friendships, 1873-1900 [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908], p. 151).
Will Hicok Low (1853-1932) was an American painter and friend to RLS. RLS met Low in 1875 in France, where Low was studying art. From the mid to late 1870s, RLS , Low and Bob Stevenson would often spend time together in Paris, and the artist communities around Fontainebleau like Grez and Barbizon.
RLS wrote about this bohemian French lifestyle in The Wrecker (1892). He dedicated the “Epilogue” of the novel to Low: “For sure, if any person can here appreciate and read between the lines, it must be you – and one other, our friend. All the dominos will be transparent to your better knowledge; the statuary contract will be to you a piece of ancient history; and you will not have now heard for the first time of the dangers of Rousillon. Dead leaves from the Bras Beau, echoes from Lavenue’s and the Rue Racine, memories of a common past, let these be your bookmarkers as you read. And if you care for naught else in the story, be a little pleased to breathe once more for a moment the airs of our youth” (RLS, with Lloyd Osbourne, The Wrecker [London: Cassell and Co., 1892], p. 427).
As the “Epilogue” suggests, Low and RLS remained friends long after their youthful days in the artist communities of France were over. Indeed, Stevenson and Fanny visited Low and his wife in Paris in August 1886. Low was also among the people who came to greet RLS when he arrived in New York on 7 September 1887.
Low was born in Albany, New York. As a young man he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. After his studies he returned to New York and in 1878 he joined the Society of American Artists. In 1890 he became a member of the National Academy of Design. Low designed panels for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City and stained glass windows for both private buyers and churches like St Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey.
From 1882-1885, Low taught at Cooper Union college in New York. Later, he taught at the school of the National Academy of Design. He also illustrated Hamilton Wright Mabie’s In Arcady (1909). Low was also an art critic, writing for Scribner’s and The Century.
Low published his memoirs in A Chronicle of Friendships, 1873-1908 in 1908. Here, he remembers the time he spent with RLS, particularly their experiences in France.
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