William Rickarby Miller

New York from Hoboken

1851

William Mason Brown was born in Troy, New York, where he studied for several years with local artists, including the leading portraitist there, Abel Buel Moore. In 1850, he moved to ...

The career of William Stanley Haseltine spans the entire second half of the nineteenth century. During these years he witnessed the growth and decline of American landscape painting, the new concept of plein-air painting practiced by the Barbizon artists, and the revolutionary techniques of the French Impressionists, all of which had profound effects on the development of painting in the western world. Haseltine remained open to these new developments, selecting aspects of each and assimilating them into his work. What remained constant was his love of nature and his skill at rendering exactly what he saw. His views, at once precise and poetic, are, in effect, portraits of the many places he visited and the landscapes he loved. Haseltine was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prosperous businessman. In 1850, at the age of fifteen, he began his art studies with Paul Weber, a German artist who had settled in Philadelphia two years earlier. From Weber, Haseltine learned about Romanticism and the meticulous draftsmanship that characterized the German School. At the same time, Haseltine enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, and took sketching trips around the Pennsylvania countryside, exploring areas along the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Following his sophomore year, Haseltine transferred to Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard in 1854, Haseltine returned to Philadelphia and resumed his studies with Weber. Although Weber encouraged Haseltine to continue his training in Europe, the elder Haseltine was reluctant to encourage his son to pursue a career as an artist. During the next year, Haseltine took various sketching trips along the Hudson River and produced a number of pictures, some of which were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in the spring of 1855. Ultimately, having convinced his father that he should be allowed to study in Europe, Haseltine accompanied Weber to Düsseldorf. The Düsseldorf Academy was, during the 1850s, at the peak of its popularity among American artists. The Academy’s strict course of study emphasized the importance of accurate draftsmanship and a strong sense of professionalism. Landscape painting was the dominant department at the Düsseldorf Academy during this period, and the most famous landscape painter there was Andreas Achenbach, under whom Haseltine studied. Achenbach’s realistic style stressed close observation of form and detail, and reinforced much of what Haseltine had already learned. His Düsseldorf training remained an important influence on him for the rest of his life. At Düsseldorf, Haseltine became friendly with other American artists studying there, especially Emanuel Leutze, Worthington Whittredge, and Albert Bierstadt. They were constant companions, and in the spring and summer months took sketching trips together. In the summer of 1856 the group took a tour of the Rhine, Ahr, and Nahe valleys, continuing through the Swiss alps and over the Saint Gotthard Pass into northern Italy. The following summer Haseltine, Whittredge, and the painter John Irving returned to Switzerland and Italy, and this time continued on to Rome. Rome was a fertile ground for artists at mid-century. When Haseltine arrived in the fall of 1857, the American sculptors Harriet Hosmer, Chauncey B. Ives, Joseph Mozier, William Henry Rinehart...

Thomas Satterwhite Noble, who studied in France with Thomas Couture for three years, adapted his master’s genre style to American subjects. Born on his parents’ plantation in Kentucky in 1835, Noble was the son of a wealthy rope manufacturer. His early upbringing in Lexington, the center of that state’s slave trade in the antebellum South...

Joshua Shaw was a farmer’s son, born in Billingborough, Lincolnshire, and orphaned at the age of seven. After a boyhood of privation, he tried a number of occupations, until he finally apprenticed to a sign painter and found his métier. Shaw went to Manchester to study art, and by 1802 was in Bath, painting landscapes. In that year he began to exhibit his work at the Royal Academy in London. Essentially self-taught, Shaw achieved an impressive level of competence and versatility, producing portraits, floral compositions, still lifes, landscapes, and, cattle pieces. Shaw continued to send works for exhibition at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Suffolk Street Gallery, all in London, until 1841. (Although Shaw is regularly mentioned and frequently illustrated in a host of general books on American art history, as well as included in numerous historical survey exhibitions, the only monographic study of this artist is Miriam Carroll Woods, “Joshua Shaw [1776–1860]: A Study of the Artist and his Paintings” [M.A. thesis, University of California at Los Angeles, 1971]. Apart from short biographical sketches in various dictionaries and museum collection catalogues, the two most interesting references, both contemporary, are John Sartain’s personal recollections in The Reminiscences of a Very Old Man, 1808–1897 [1899; reprint 1969] and an article in Scientific American from August 7, 1869, “Joshua Shaw, Artist and Inventor.” The article quotes extensively from an autobiographical document in the possession of Shaw’s grandson that Shaw prepared for William Dunlap...

Thomas Fransioli, born in 1906 in Seattle, Washington, trained as an architect at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked as an architect before his service in World War II. Largel...

Charles Temple Dix was born in Albany, New York, the youngest son of the distinguished statesman and soldier, General John Adams Dix. Having already visited Europe as a child, Dix re...

"Collegeville Farm" is a 23 x 41 inches, regional landscape, painted in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The oil on canvas is framed in a stunning, 22k gold, handcrafted frame. The a...

"Four Generations" is a 30 x 40 inches landscape with figures and animals, painted by female, American Realist painter, Molly Luce. The painting is signed M...

Christopher Clark's (US based) "The Next Stage of Your Journey" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a split rail fence among a meadow of tall grasses leading to am autumn colored forest in the background. Bio/artist statement: Christopher has been an artist since early childhood, when he would watch Bob Ross on PBS and mimic the famed oil painter’s art with crayons. He considers himself a self-educated artist, with his studies ranging from personal training with contemporary masters, to classical academic art technique, with much inspiration from 19th Century art and the Impressionist Movement. Christopher lived in Italy for a time, immersing himself in Italian culture and art, which continues to influence his painting. His fan base has grown considerably since his return to the US, gaining the attention of Lucasfilm and Marvel Fine Art, which both signed him as an officially licensed artist in 2016. Other clients include George Lucas, Major League Baseball, Louisville Slugger, and Fender Guitars. Christopher’s painting skills are not his only talent in the arts. He has won several national swing dance championship competitions, and also studies tango and blues dancing. He has played guitar since the age of 12, and during his time as lead guitarist for a rock band, he opened for Blue Oyster Cult and Eddie Money, as well as headlined “the Whisky A Go Go” and “The Roxy” in Hollywood. Christopher has played trombone since high school, and for the last 20 years has played with all-trombone Christmas band in Orange County, California called the Balboa Bachelors, with whom he has played for the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade...

Kevin Weckbach's (US based) "Double Shadow" is an original, hand made oil painting that depicts a busy city avenue filled with throngs of bundled walkers casting long shadows on the ...

Manuel Garza (b. 1940) Local Texas Landscape Artist Title: Untitled Landscape, Hillcountry Bluebonnets Medium: Oil on Panel Size: Canvas 16" x 20" Framed 20.5" x 24.5" Fram...

Willard Dixon (American, born 1942) Near San Quentin, 1976 Oil on Canvas Signed lower left Dated lower right 41in H x 62in W In a natural float frame: 42....