Artists

Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter...

Charles Ingham was born in Dublin in 1796, where he became a pupil of William C., a portrait painter known for his likenesses of female subjects. Following four years of study with C., Ingham adopted his master's specialty. Thus, when he left Ireland and moved to New York in 1816, he soon became known as that city's premier "ladies' painter." The...

John Gadsby Chapman (December 3, 1808 – November 28, 1889) was an American artist famous for The Baptism of Pocahontas, which was commissioned by the United States Congress and hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda. Life and career John Chapman was born in 1808 in Alexandria, Virginia. Chapman began his study of art in Philadelphia for two...

J. T. Harwood was born in Lehi, Utah, on April 8, 1860, into an arts-oriented family. As a youth he spent time sketching, and later studied art with Utah artists George M. Ottinger and Danquart A. Weggeland. In 1888, at their urging, Harwood became one of the first of a group of Utah-born artists to travel to France and study art in...

James Edward Buttersworth (1817–1894) was an English painter who specialized in maritime art, and is considered among the foremost American ship portraitists of the nineteenth century.[1] His paintings are particularly known for their meticulous detail, dramatic settings, and grace in movement. Early life and education Buttersworth was born in...

Douglas Volk, named Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk (23 February 1856 - 1935)[1] was an American portrait and landscape painter. He helped establish the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts. After 1904 he and his wife Marion created an artists' retreat at their family home, Hewnoaks, in Maine. She became active in the production of woolen textiles and rugs...

William Bennett was born in England. In 1799 the esteemed watercolor artist Richard Westall sponsored Bennett's entry into the Royal Academy of Art in London. Bennett showed an aptitude for landscape views, paying particular attention to topographical detail and the subtleties of light and atmosphere. Enrollment in the British forces in 1803 cut short...

James Wells Champney (July 16, 1843 – May 1, 1903) was an American genre and portrait painter. He was born in Boston and first studied wood engraving there, then went to Europe and studied at the Antwerp Academy and under Edouard Frère in Paris. His paintings include landscape and genre subjects, but he is best known for his excellent pastel...

James Reid Lambdin was born in Pittsburgh on May 10, 1807. His father's death in 1812 left his family in difficult financial straits, so at age twelve Lambdin left school to work in a bookstore. There he studied art instruction books and taught himself to draw. After seeing a reproduction of one of Gilbert Stuart's portraits of George Washington,...

Matthew Harris Jouett was born April 22, 1788, near Harrodsburg, in what became Mercer County, Kentucky. Except for a few trips outside the state in search of commissions, he would reside virtually all of his life in Kentucky. His father, Captain Jack Jouett, was known as the "Paul Revere of the South" in honor of his 1781 ride warning Southern...

Jacob Eichholtz was born November 2, 1776, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he spent much of his life. His first drawing lessons were rudimentary, obtained from a sign painter. He apprenticed with a copper and tinsmith before being hired as a journeyman to a master coppersmith in 1801. He established his own business, working as a tinsmith until...

James Bard was a marine artist of the 19th century. He is known for his paintings of watercraft, particularly of steamboats. His works are sometimes characterized as naïve art. Although Bard died poor and almost forgotten, his works have since become valuable. Bard had a twin brother, John (1815–1856) and they collaborated on earlier...

George Caleb Bingham (March 20, 1811 – July 7, 1879) was an American artist whose paintings of American life in the frontier lands along the Missouri River exemplify the Luminist style. Left to languish in obscurity, Bingham's work was rediscovered in the 1930s. He is now widely considered one of the greatest American painters of the 19th...

Thomas Birch, American portrait and marine painter; born in London, England, in 1779; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 3, 1851. He came to the U. S. in 1794, and assisted his artist father, William Birch, in preparing a 29-plate collection of engravings: "Birch's Views of Philadelphia" (1799).[1] Subscribers to the series...

Fidelia Bridges (May 19, either 1834 or 1835–1923) was one of the minute population of successful female artists in the 19th century and early 20th century. She painted small aspects of nature: flowers, birds, and other plants in their natural settings. She first was an oil painter and later took up watercolor painting. She was known for her...

The portraitist Frederick Randolph Spencer was born June 7, 1806 in Lennox, New York, one of four children of the lawyer and first postmaster of Canastota, General Ichabod Smith Spencer (1780-1857), and Mary Pierson Spencer (1785-1865). He evinced an early interest for art, and at the age of fifteen saw an exhibition of portraits by Ezra Ames at...

Born in Utica, New York, in 1861 the portraitist Irving Ramsey Wiles first studied art with his father, landscape painter Lemuel Maynard Wiles (1826-1905). In 1879 he followed his father's advice and moved to New York. He entered the Art Students League, where he spent two years studying with Thomas W. Dewing, J. Carroll Beckwith, and William Merritt...

Albert Fitch Bellows (November 20, 1829 - November 24, 1883), American landscape painter of the Hudson River School, was born at Milford, Massachusetts. Early years He first studied architecture and opened his own architectural firm in 1849, but quickly turned to painting. From 1850 to 1856 he taught at the New England School of Design in Boston....

Jefferson David Chalfant painted still-life images and scenes of everyday life that celebrate the ideal of manual craft in their subjects and in their technique. Chalfant was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the son of a cabinetmaker. He followed his father’s trade and worked with him decorating railroad cars. In 1879 he moved to Wilmington,...

Frederick Stuart Church (1842–1924) was an American artist, working mainly as an illustrator and especially known for his (often allegorical) depiction of animals. Biography He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father was an important figure in politics as well as a well-known lawyer. At the age of 13 he left school and took a job at the...

Daniel Huntington (October 4, 1816 – April 19, 1906), American artist, was born in New York City, New York, the son of Benjamin Huntington, Jr. and Faith Trumbull Huntington; his paternal grandfather was Benjamin Huntington, delegate at the Second Continental Congress and First U.S. Representative from Connecticut. From 1833 to 1835 he studied at...

Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783 – November 5, 1872) was a well-known American (English-born) painter, mostly of portraits. Life and career Early life Sully was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia, where Thomas’s uncle...

George Fuller (January 17, 1822 – March 21, 1884)  was an American figure and portrait painter. Fuller was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts. His father, Aaron Fuller, was a farmer. His mother was Aaron's second wife, Fanny Negus of Petersham, Massachusetts. His parents were not in favor of Fuller becoming a painter. At age thirteen, he went to...

Edmund Charles Tarbell (April 26, 1862 – August 1, 1938) was an American Impressionist painter. He was a member of the Ten American Painters. His work is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery and the National Academy of Design, among others. Early life and education Edmund Charles Tarbell, called "Ned" as a boy, was...

A specialist in marine and coastal paintings, Alfred Thompson Bricher was celebrated for his precise depictions of waves breaking at the shoreline. Bricher was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and grew up in Newburyport, on the Massachusetts coast. He worked as a clerk in a dry-goods store in Boston while painting in his spare time. Bricher may...

Thomas Wilcocks Sully, born in Philadelphia on January 3, 1811, was one of six children of the portrait painter Thomas Sully and his wife, Sarah Annis Sully, who was his brother Lawrence's widow. The younger Thomas' middle name was probably derived from his father's patron Benjamin Chew Wilcocks, a leading Philadelphia merchant. After studying art...

Fitz Henry Lane (born Nathaniel Rogers Lane, also known as Fitz Hugh Lane) (December 19, 1804 – August 14, 1865) was an American painter and printmaker of a style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light. Biography Fitz Henry Lane was born on December 19, 1804, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Lane was...

Although born in England in 1780, John Wesley Jarvis was the son of an American mariner who moved his family back to the United States by the mid-1780s. At the end of that decade, the Jarvises settled in Philadelphia, where the artist spent his childhood and began his artistic training. He is known to have frequented the studio of the aging Matthew...

John Vanderlyn (October 18, 1775 – September 23, 1852) was an American neoclassicist painter. Biography Vanderlyn was born at Kingston, New York. He was employed by a print-seller in New York, and was first instructed in art by Archibald Robinson (1765–1835), a Scotsman who was afterwards one of the directors of the American Academy of...

Edwin Austin Abbey (April 1, 1852 – August 1, 1911) was an American artist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects, as well as for his painting of Edward VII's...

Robert Frederick Blum was a major figure painter and illustrator who emerged from the active artistic milieu of mid-century Cincinnati, where he was born. From his studies in Cincinnati, Blum traveled to Philadelphia and studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1876-1877). Blum and many of his contemporaries greatly admired the...

Henry Ward Ranger (January 29, 1858 – November 7, 1916 ), American artist, was born in western New York State. He became a prominent landscape and marine painter, much of his work being done in the Netherlands, and showing the influence of the modern Dutch school. He became a National Academician (1906), and a member of the American Water Color...

George Inness (May 1, 1825 -August 3, 1894) was an American landscape painter; born in Newburgh, New York; died at Bridge of Allan in Scotland. His work was influenced, in turn, by that of the old masters, the Hudson River school, the Barbizon school, and, finally, by the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose spiritualism found vivid expression in...

Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter. Birth and education Samuel F.B. Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the first child of the pastor Jedidiah...

Born in New Haven in 1820, the son of a Connecticut stationer, George Henry Durrie remained in that city virtually his entire life. Married to a choirmaster's daughter, Sarah Perkins, in 1841, he immersed himself in the quiet pursuits of family and church. While he never achieved the fame of the most renowned nineteenth century American landscape...

Thomas Pollock Anshutz (October 5, 1851 – June 16, 1912) was an American painter and teacher. Co-founder of The Darby School and leader at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Anshutz was known for his award winning portraiture work and working friendship with Thomas Eakins. Personal life and education Thomas Anshutz was born in Newport,...

George Peter Alexander Healy (July 15, 1813 - June 24, 1894) was an American painter born in Boston, Massachusetts. Going to Europe in 1835 Healy studied under Baron Gros in Paris and in Rome. He received a third-class medal in Paris in 1840, and one of the second class in 1855, when he exhibited his "Franklin urging the claims of the American...

William Michael Harnett (August 10, 1848 – October 29, 1892) was an Irish-American painter known for his trompe l'oeil still lifes of ordinary objects. Early life Harnett was born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland during the time of the potato famine. Shortly after his birth his family emigrated to America, settling in Philadelphia. Becoming a...

John White Alexander (7 October 1856 – 31 May 1915) was an American portrait, figure, and decorative painter and illustrator. Biography Alexander was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now a part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Orphaned in infancy, he was reared by his grandparents and at the age of 12 became a telegraph boy in Pittsburgh. His...

Willard Leroy Metcalf (July 1, 1858 – March 9, 1925) was an American artist born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and later attended Académie Julian, Paris. After early figure-painting and illustration, he became prominent as a landscape painter. He was one of the Ten American Painters who in...

Ralph Albert Blakelock (October 15, 1847 – August 9, 1919) was a romanticist painter from the United States. Biography Ralph Blakelock was born in New York City on October 15, 1847.[1] His father was a successful physician.[1] Blakelock initially set out to follow in his footsteps, and in 1864 began studies at the Free Academy of the City of...

John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer. Biography LaFarge was born in New York City to wealthy French parents and was raised bilingually.[1] His interest in art began during his training at Mount St. Mary's University[2] and St. John's College (now...

Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter, and Co-Founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. Best known for his genre paintings, paintings of scenes from everyday life, and his portraits both of everyday people, he also painted portraits of prominent Americans...

William Stanley Haseltine (June 11, 1835-February 3, 1900) was an American painter and draftsman who was associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting, the Hudson River School and Luminism. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia to John Haseltine, a successful businessman, and Elizabeth Shinn Haseltine, an amateur landscape painter,...

Frank Weston Benson, frequently referred to as Frank W. Benson, (March 24, 1862 – November 15, 1951) was an American artist from Salem, Massachusetts known for his Realistic portraits, American Impressionist paintings, watercolors and etchings. He began his career painting portraits of distinguished families and murals for the Library of...

George Wesley Bellows (August 12[1][2] or August 19,[3][4][5] 1882 - January 8, 1925) was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City, becoming, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed American artist of his generation".[6] Youth Bellows was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He...

Oscar Bluemner (June 21, 1867 – January 12, 1938), born as Friedrich Julius Oskar Blümner[1] and since 1933, known as Oscar Florianus Bluemner,[2] was a German-born American Modernist painter. Early life Bluemner was born as Friedrich Julius Oskar Blümner in Prenzlau, Germany on June 21, 1867.[1] Architecture Bluemner moved to Chicago in...

Frederick Childe Hassam (October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was a prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums. He produced over 3,000 paintings, watercolors,...

John Henry Twachtman (August 4, 1853 – August 8, 1902) was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation. He was a member of "The Ten",...

Julian Alden Weir (August 30, 1852 – December 8, 1919) was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony near Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of "The Ten", a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a...