他于1869年6月22日出生在 巴尔的摩 杰姆斯和Rose Doherty Paxton。 威廉的父亲将帕克斯顿家族建立了餐饮业务 Newton Corner，马萨诸塞州 在中期1870。

帕克斯顿出席 考尔斯艺术学校 奖学金在他达到18岁。他研究了 丹尼斯米勒掩体 Cowles然后去了 巴黎 学习下 让我gérôme ，在 美术学院 。艺术马利丘博物馆 他也说了 学院朱利安 在巴黎。他回到Cowles了 约瑟夫逃之夭夭 ，谁也教 Elizabeth Vaughan好 。 她成了帕克斯顿的学生和他的妻子。

帕克斯顿教授从1906到1913在 美术博物馆 学校画在 芬威工作室 在波士顿。他是被称为他的 肖像和画 格罗弗·克利夫兰和 “卡尔文·库利奇” 。艺术马利丘博物馆 说他的艺术，“帕克斯顿是他给的肉和织物光和细节的关注众所周知的影响。他的作品往往存在理想化的女性观，如这幅画像（ 红扇 他的妻子伊丽莎白），  喜欢 亨利詹姆斯 的女性人物描写在他的小说 一位女士的画像 （1881年）或 美国 （1877）。他的模型，通常他的赞助人的女儿和妻子，被描绘成精，“炫耀性休闲”培养的女性，和等同于“珍贵的审美对象，就像他们身边的女人 凡勃伦 的 有闲阶级论 （1899）谁反映他们的丈夫或父亲的财富。 他制作的详细成分在他的工作室模式，用画几个出现的道具。

帕克斯顿和其他几个波士顿的艺术家们的灵感 维米尔 。这个 大都会艺术博物馆 说帕克斯顿 “茶叶” （1909）在他们的收藏：

在一个没有窗户的客厅里弥漫着柔和的光线，梦幻般的气氛，和沉默的声音，两个优雅的女人打发时间做很少或根本没有。帕克斯顿暗示叙事，但他要求观众创造它，概括维梅尔的画模糊，他钦佩。

帕克斯顿运用了一种技术，在他的作品中只有一个区域完全是焦点，而其余的是有些模糊了，他称之为“双目”归功于维梅尔。他开始在自己的工作中使用这一系统，包括 “新项链” ，只有黄金珠分明而组成对象的其他有柔软的，模糊的边缘。

帕克斯顿在的关键人物之一 波士顿的学校 绘画和创始人之一 波士顿美术家协会 与 弗兰克Weston本森 和 查尔斯·塔贝尔 。1926和1927之间，他接受了德威特洛克曼和其他85个艺术家和建筑师的国家设计院相关。从采访记录被保留在 纽约历史学会 和 美国艺术档案馆 。 帕克斯顿的正式成员 国家设计研究院 和1928年。

He was born in June 22, 1869 in Baltimore, James and Rose Doherty Paxton. William's father will set up the family of catering business Newton Corner, Massachusetts in the mid 1870.
Paxton attended the Cow School of Arts Scholarship at the age of 18. He studied Dennis Miller bunker Cowles then went to Paris to study under G's me r let me, at the Academy of Fine Arts. Art Malic Museum, he also said the Institute of Julian in Paris. He returned to Cowles Joseph decamp, who also taught Elizabeth Vaughan. She became Paxton's student and his wife.
Professor Paxton from 1906 to 1913 in the school of the Museum of fine arts painting at Fenway studio in Boston. He is known for his portraits and paintings by Grover Cleveland and "Calvin Coolidge". The Malic Museum of art said his art, "Paxton is known for his attention to the attention of the meat and fabric light and detail. His works often idealized view of women, such as the portrait (red fan and his wife Elizabeth), love Henry James's female characters portrayed in his novel the portrait of a lady (1881) or the United States (1877). His model, usually his patron's daughter and wife, portrayed as fine, "conspicuous leisure culture" of women, and the equivalent of "aesthetic object is precious, like their women around Veblen's theory of the leisure class (1899) who reflect their husband or father's wealth. He produced a detailed composition in his studio mode, with a few of the items that appear.
Paxton and several other Boston artists inspired by Vermeer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art says Paxton "tea" (1909) in their collection:
In the living room without a window, there was a soft light, a dreamy atmosphere, and a silent voice, and the two elegant women had time to do little or nothing. Paxton hinted at the narrative, but he asked the audience to create it, summed up the ambiguity of Vermeer's paintings, he admired.
Paxton uses a technique in which only one area is completely focused, while the rest is somewhat blurred, which he calls "binocular" thanks to Vermeer. He began to use this system in his own work, including the "new necklace", only the gold beads clearly composed of other objects with a soft, fuzzy edge.
Paxton is one of the key figures in the Boston School of painting and one of the founders of the Boston artists association with Weston Benson and. Between 1926 and 1927, he accepted the relevant national design institute lochman DeWitt and 85 other artists and architects. Records from the interviews were kept at the New York historical society and the American archives of art. Paxton, a member of the National Institute of design and research in 1928.