William Bradford

Lights of the Aurora

F. Alexander Wust paints a stellar sunset over a hillside with light red color in his artwork entitled, “Sunset Landscape.”

Signed lower left in arrowhead: RA Blakelock.

Ralph Albert Blakelock was a romanticist American painter known primarily for his landscape paintings related to the Tonalism movement.

Signed illegibly lower right

George Curtis transcended the typical Hudson River School style with this painting. While in the Hudson River School, painters often created warmer landscapes of the American country...

Luminous Hudson River School landscape of sunset over water with red buoy in foreground and sailing ships in background in the style of Alfred Thompson Briche...

Copy of impressionist landscape painting titled "Aurora Borealis" showing a ship in an icy harbor at night

Signed and dated 1877. Mortimer Smith, a lesser-known yet skilled artist of the Hudson River School, captured the untamed beauty of the American landscape with remarkable depth. This painting presents a seacoast scene with a solitary fisherman, with his boat during the tide. The rugged cliffs frame the composition, their weathered surfaces telling the story of time and nature’s relentless forces. Sunlight filters through the mist, casting a halo glow in the sky, while waves crash against the shore in rhythmic motion. Smith’s brushwork conveys both the serenity and power of the natural world, inviting the viewer to step into the scene under nature's power and beauty. Although born in Jamestown, New York, Mortimer Smith would become well-known as a Detroit architect and artist by the end of the nineteenth century. Little is known of Smith's earlier years; however, scholars speculate that he studied in Oberlin and Sandusky, Ohio before moving to Detroit in 1855. There, the artist flourished and became famous for his crisp landscapes of local scenery, including his beloved winter scenes. In addition to his artistic career, Smith founded a successful architectural firm by the name of Smith, Hynchman and Grylls; Smith's reputation in the visual arts was often overshadowed by his draftsmanship as an architect. Nevertheless, he was a vital force in Detroit's arts community exhibiting his works in venues including the Detroit Art...