Career
In around 1768 he moved to London, to be a student in the Royal Academy of Arts. William Bell"s best known works were the portraits painted for the family of Delaval, of Seaton Delaval Hall. These paintings earned Bell the patronage of Lord Delaval, and in 1775 he exhibited two views of Delaval Hall.
A portrait he painted of Robert Harrison, 1715-1802, is displayed in the National Portrait, London.
William Bell died in or around 1806.