William James Muller 1812-1845

Muller left England in the company of his pupil, Harry John Johnson (1826-1884) on 12th September 1843.  After stopping for supplies at Smyrna, they travelled to Asia Minor by night and then met up with the boat of the archaologist Sir Charles Fellows at the mouth of the River Xanthus.  Muller had met Fellows in the spring of 1843, when the archaologist was planning his third expedition to Lycia and he suggested that Muller visited at the same time to take advantage of the protection of a naval force which would accompany them.

On 1st November the companions walked inland for six miles or so to Xanthus, the ancient capital of Lycia and they remained in the Xanthus valley for three months, leaving at the end of January 1844.  During this time, despite bad weather, Muller worked constantly and completed all his watercolours on the spot.

Muller returned from Lycia with 'one hundred or two hundred drawings' (N.Neal Solly, Memoir of the Life of William Muller, 1975, p.200) which were widely recognised as the finest achievement of his career