Before long the apprentice had outperformed the master, as the paintings themselves testify (see the brig Thomas Battersby). In the case of a father and son team, this can provide a welcome and mutually satisfying outcome instead of proving disruptive. Having seen Samuel successfully launched, Miles seems content increasingly to devote himself to the framing & gilding aspect of his family business, leaving Samuel free to follow his own path.

Thus by 1834 although only in his early twenties, Samuel was already confirmed in his profession, advertising himself as 'marine artist' with a studio at 27 Berry Street, the same address as his father (. The arrangement appears to have been a temporary one, prior to acquiring his own establishment on the occasion of his marriage the following year. His father, now turned sixty, took William his next son aged 18 into the business, expanding its scope to include domestic décor, advertising gilded mouldings, window cornices, fashionable mirrors and other decorative items.

It was Samuel Walters's head start based on a strong Victorian sense of family solidarity, linked to his innate ability and good business sense, that ensured him the lion's share of an expanding market. He was interested in any kind of technical development allowing illustrative material to be mass produced. For example, rather than deplore the possible competitive impact of the 'photographic artist' upon traditional methods, he experimented and learnt to employ it profitably to his own ends. (Next)