The Precision of a Portraitist To look at the surviving traces of William Leslie is to encounter a man defined by the specificities of the late eighteenth century. He was an English painter whose presence in the art historical record is marked by a distinct, localized activity. While his name appears in various forms—William Lessley, William James Lessley, William Lesley, William James Leslie, William Lessly, and William James Lessly—t…