The artist William Percy Mundy died peacefully at home on Wednesday 2^nd July aged 88. Bill, as he was known, is survived by his wife Claire, sister-in-law Valerie, his three nephews Neil, Ian and Tim, and niece Louisa.

Born in Wokingham in 1936, Bill became an apprentice lithographic artist in Reading at the biscuit tin makers Huntley, Boorne & Stevens before completing his national service in Singapore with the Royal Engineers during the Malayan Emergency, where he drew maps for use by the British troops in Malaya. Following his national service Bill completed his apprenticeship and continued to work for Huntley, Boorne & Stevens designing biscuit tins, some of which can be seen in Reading Museum.  In 1960 Bill returned to Singapore, a country much loved by him, and eventually became Regional Director for Grant International Advertising Agency.  He spent many happy years in the Far East, living and working in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok, and it is here that he first started to paint miniature portraits as he could easily pack his paints and brushes in his briefcase when undertaking his frequent business trips around the region.

During his time in Asia, and as his skills as a portrait artist became honed and well-known, Bill became ‘The Court Painter’ to the Johor Royal family in Malaysia.  He was great friends with the Sultan, Ismail Al-Khalidi, and painted many portraits for the family, both large and small, including miniature portraits of all the then Princess Azizah’s children.

He was also commissioned to paint a miniature of King Bhumipol Aduladej in Thailand and presented two miniatures of herself to his daughter Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at the Chitralada Palace in Bangkok.

While living in Singapore in 1962 Bill (then just 26 years old) noticed an advert in The Straits Times for an open competition to design murals for the new Paya Lebar airport passenger terminal.  He and his great friend and colleague Shamsuddin H. Akib both entered and were delighted to hear that two of Bill’s designs (“Skyline of Singapore” and “Races and Religions of Malaysia”) and one of Sham’s (“Cultural Dances of Malaysia”) were chosen as the winning entries.  All were subsequently commissioned and installed in the airport.  Bill’s cityscape mural was placed at the top of the staircase in the main concourse, measuring 12 feet long, and remained in situ until Paya Lebar was replaced by the new Changi Airport in the early 1980’s.

Bill returned to the UK in 1978 and, following his passion, became a full-time artist, and a much-celebrated portrait painter, particularly in the field of miniatures. He practised the revered English art of miniature portrait painting for more than forty years, devoting his life to the artform. Driven by his desire to create heirlooms for people that retain their intimacy and sentimental value for many centuries to come, just like the paintings of the old masters, he used traditional materials and techniques; painting on vellum with watercolours using a pointillism technique (painstakingly building up the painting through tiny dots of colour). He was one of very few who kept the old traditions alive, as many turned to more modern techniques and materials.

His body of work includes over 800 miniature paintings, and many hundreds of larger paintings, among them commissions from the Royal families in the UK and abroad. His work is renowned and revered around the world and he is represented in Royal Collections in the UK, Malaysia and Thailand, and at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, as well as many other private collections. He was a highly regarded member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers (RMS), the Miniature Art Society of Florida (MASF), The Hilliard Society of Miniaturists (HS), and was an elected Signature Member of the Miniature Artists of America (MAA).