William Mulready (April 1 1786 - June 7, 1863) was an Irish genre painter living in London. He is best known for his romanticizing depictions of rural scenes.

William Mulready was born in Ennis, County Clare. Early in his life, in 1792, the family moved to London, where he was able to get an education and was taught painting well enough so that he was accepted at the Royal Academy School at the age of fourteen.

Many of his early pictures show landscapes, before he started to build a reputation as a genre painter from 1808 on, painting mostly everyday scenes from rural life. Besides this, he also illustrated books. His paintings were very popular in Victorian times.

In 1815 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy. In the same year, he also was awarded the French "Légion d'honneur".

He died at the age of 77 in Bayswater, London.