Early Life and Background Rothenstein was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England on January 29, 1872, into a German-Jewish family. His father, Moritz Rothenstein, emigrated from Germany in 1859 to establish himself as a textile merchant in the burgeoning industrial city. Shortly thereafter he married Bertha Dux and they had six children, William being the fifth. He attended Bradford Grammar School before embarking on his artistic education at the Slade School of Art in London (1888-1893), where Alphonse Legros served as his mentor—a teacher who championed the revival of etching techniques in Br…