American Realist Art

(After) JOHN JAMES AUDUBON (1785 - 1851) MISSOURI MOUSE, 1846 - Plate 100 (C) No. 20 Lithograph with original hand coloring. From Audubon's "The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America...

This portrait depicts a seated colonial woman, painted in a realist style that can be compared to John Smibert. This painting has beautiful details such a...

William Baptiste Baird: 1847-1917. Well listed American painter with auction records over $16,000 for similar size and subject. He was born in Chicago and lived in Paris for most of his adult life. He often exhibited at the Paris Salon as well as National Academy of Design and PAFA. This subject is what you want in a Baird. Chickens in a French farm yard. Oil on panel measuring 8 1/2 inches high by 6 1/4 wide. The antique distressed frame...

Title continues: Built by Mr. Henry Steers, Greenpoint, L. I. Owned by Mr. James Gordon Bennett, Jr. Winner of the Great Ocean Yacht Race, With the ...

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 ...

Charming 19th Century oil on board. Adorable young child either daydreaming or posing while leaning on a fence with the moon in background. Looks like it could possibly be done by ...

Signed and dated (at lower left): W. R. Miller 1891; (at lower right): No. 10

Signed (at lower right): John Ross Key 1882

After John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Bay-breasted Warbler," no. 44, pl. LXIX Medium: hand-colored engraving with aquatint on J. Whatman wove paper Dimensions: plate 19.38" x 12.25" . frame 48.88" x 38.38" Description: from "The Birds of America (1826-1838)," Robert Havell edition...

Charles Caleb Ward was born in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, the grandson of a New York Ward who had left for New Brunswick around the time of th...

AFTER - WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910) THANKSGIVING IN THE ARMY - After Dinner: the Wishbone, 1864 Original wood engraving as published by Harpers Weekly December 3, 1864, after a drawing by Winslow Homer. Image 9 3/4" x 14, Sheet 10 3.\/4 x 15 3/4" . Generally good condition, a small stain in the upper right margin. Homer contributed drawings to Harper's Weekly from 1857 to 1875. They were converted to wood engravings by Harper's craftsman and published in Harper's Weekly. Although after his original drawings, they are now accepted as an important part of his body of work by museums and collectors. They were very large editions. As such, they occur often in the marketplace. Harper's published during the Civil War years as this was, were widely read and kept as people followed the war first hand and its aftermath over the years continuing today as both Homer and Civil War collectables

Framed, 5.25 x 8.5 x 1.5 in.

William John Hennessy was born in Ireland. He came to America in 1849 with his mother and brother a year after his father had fled their homeland after taking part in the unsuccessful Young Ireland Party uprising. The Hennessys settled in New York, and when young William came of age, he decided upon a career as an artist. At the age of fifteen, he enrolled at the National Academy of Design, where he learned to draw from the antique, and the following year he was granted admission to the Academy’s life-drawing class. Hennessy first exhibited at the National Academy in 1857, starting a continuous run of appearances in their annuals that lasted until 1870, when he expatriated himself to Europe. During his time in America, Hennessy was principally known as a genre painter and prolific illustrator for such publications as Harper’s Weekly and a number of books, including illustrated works of William Cullen Bryant...

Signed (at lower right): John Ross Key 1882

Pen and ink on tan laid paper

Signed (at lower right): DJ [monogram]; (on back): David Johnson 1865

Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait was born at Livesey Hall, near Liverpool, England, and began his career as a clerk at the gallery of Agnew & Zanetti’s Repository of Arts in Manchester. While...

Signed (at lower right): FJK

Signed (at lower left): W.R. Miller/ 1851

Watercolor on paper

Watercolor and gouache on paper

Signed (at lower right): C A Walker

Signed (at lower right): FJK

UNION POND, WILLIAMSBURGH, L. I. [sic] is a lithograph printed in color in circa 1862. It was published by Thomas & Eno, 37 Park Row, N.Y. The printed image size is 16 3/4 x 27 in...

Vase of Flowers Oil on tin, 13 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. Signed (at lower left): C. Eaton

Lilly Martin Spencer was a professional artist for over sixty years, painting portraits, still lifes, miniatures, and genre scenes. In the 1850s to mid-1860s her genre scenes depicti...

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...

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...

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...

"The Main Bridge" is an etching by William Goodrich Beal, signed in the lower right. The etching shows a quaint scene of a small town. The foreground showed a muddy hill with some gr...

Nicolino Calyo's career reflects a restless spirit of enterprise and adventure. Descended in the line of the Viscontes di Calyo of Calabria, the artist was the son of a Neapolitan army officer. (For a brief biographical sketch of the artist see Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art, exhib. cat. [1976], pp. 299-301 no. 257.) Calyo received formal training in art at the Naples Academy. His career took shape amidst the backdrop of the political turbulence of early nineteenth-century Italy, Spain, and France. He fled Naples after choosing the losing side in struggles of 1820-21, and, by 1829, was part of a community of Italian exiles in Malta. This was the keynote of a peripatetic life that saw the artist travel through Europe, to America, to Europe again, and back to America. Paradoxically, Calyo’s stock-in-trade was close observation of people and places, meticulously rendered in the precise topographical tradition of his fellow countrymen, the eighteenth-century vedute painters Antonio Canale (called Canaletto) and Francesco Guardi. In search of artistic opportunity and in pursuit of a living, Calyo left Malta, and, by 1834, was in Baltimore, Maryland. He advertised his skills in the April 16, 1835 edition of the Baltimore American, offering "remarkable views executed from drawings taken on the spot by himself, . . . in which no pains or any resource of his art has been neglected, to render them accurate in every particular" (as quoted in The Art Gallery and The Gallery of the School of Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, 350 Years of Art & Architecture in Maryland, exhib. cat. [1984], p. 35). Favoring gouache on paper as his medium, Calyo rendered faithful visual images of familiar locales executed with a degree of skill and polish that was second nature for European academically-trained artists. Indeed, it was the search for this graceful fluency that made American artists eager to travel to Europe and that led American patrons to seek out the works of ambitious newcomers. On June 16, 1835, the Baltimore Republican reported that Calyo was on his way north to Philadelphia and New York to paint views of those cities. Calyo arrived in New York, by way of Philadelphia, just in time for the great fire of December 1835, which destroyed much of the downtown business district. He sketched the fire as it burned, producing a series of gouaches that combined his sophisticated European painting style with the truth and urgency of on-the-spot observation. Two of his images were given broad currency when William James Bennett reproduced them in aquatint. The New-York Historical Society owns two large Calyo gouaches of the fire, and two others, formerly in the Middendorf Collection, are now in the collection of Hirschl & Adler Galleries. From 1838 until 1855, Calyo listed himself variously in the New York City directories as a painter, a portrait painter, and as an art instructor, singly, and in partnership with his sons, John (1818-1893) and later, the younger Hannibal (1835-1883). Calyo also attracted notice for a series of scenes and characters from the streets of New York, called Cries of New York. These works, which were later published as prints, participate in a time-honored European genre tradition. Calyo’s New York home became a gathering place for European exiles, including Napoleon III. Between 1847 and 1852 Calyo exhibited scenes from the Mexican War and traveled from Boston to New Orleans with his forty-foot panorama of the Connecticut River. Later, he spent time in Spain as court painter to Queen Maria Christina, the result of his continuing European connections, but he was back in America by 1874, where he remained until his death. The Passaic River rises in the hills just south of Morristown, New Jersey, marking a serpentine eighty-mile course before it empties into Newark Bay. It flows north-northeast to Paterson, where it falls seventy feet in a spectacular cataract before continuing south through Passaic and Newark. William Gerdts, in Painting and Sculpture in New Jersey (1964, pp. 51-2), describes the falls as: the most important [landscape] subject in New Jersey during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. . . . The Passaic Falls remained a popular spot, particularly during the romantic period. Indeed, newspapers, periodicals, and gift books contain many accounts of visits to the Falls, sentimental poems written about them or about a loved one visiting the Falls, or even, occasionally, in memory of one who perished in the waters of the Falls — usually intentionally. . . . Waterfalls . . . were popular among travelers in the period and the Passaic Falls were only surpassed by Niagara Falls and Trenton Falls...

In the latter half of the nineteenth century and into the first decade of the twentieth, New York City art aficionados could count on finding recent work of Seymour Joseph Guy hanging on the walls of the city’s major galleries. Primarily a genre artist, but also a portraitist, between 1859 and 1908 Guy showed more than seventy works at the National Academy of Design. From 1871 to 1903 he contributed over seventy times to exhibitions at the Century Club. From 1864 to 1887, he sent about forty pictures to the Brooklyn Art Association. A good number of these works were already privately owned; they served as advertisements for other pictures that were available for sale. Some pictures were shown multiple times in the same or different venues. Guy was as easy to find as his canvases were omnipresent. Though he lived at first in Brooklyn with his family and then in New Jersey, from 1863 to his death in 1910 he maintained a studio at the Artist’s Studio Building at 55 West 10th Street, a location that was, for much of that period, the center of the New York City art world. Guy’s path to a successful career as an artist was by no means smooth or even likely. Born in Greenwich, England, he was orphaned at the age of nine. His early interest in art was discouraged by his legal guardian, who wanted a more settled trade for the young man. Only after the guardian also died was Guy free to pursue his intention of becoming an artist. The details of Guy’s early training in art are unclear. His first teacher is believed to have been Thomas Buttersworth...

David Johnson was a stalwart of the New York art world in the second half of the nineteenth century. In the fifty years between 1849 and 1899, Johnson exhibited over fifty paintings at the National Academy of Design, where he was an academician. In 1867, Johnson visited a spot above West Point on the Hudson River to paint a view that had long been a favorite of the landscape artists comprising the so-called “Hudson River School.” John Kensett had painted from the same vantage point ten years earlier, describing the area in a letter of 1854 as being “in the midst of the beautiful highlands of the Hudson, which I think for their peculiar kind of beauty there is nothing to surpass” (Kensett to his uncle, John R. Kensett, March 30, 1854, as quoted in Natalie Spassky and Kathleen Luhrs, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol 2: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1816 and 1845 [New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985], p. 33). The Kensett painting, now called Hudson River Scene...

It was Henry Cross's portraits of horses belonging to the prominent breeders and trainers of the second half of the nineteenth century that won the artist renown as an animal painter. Born and raised in upstate New York, Cross's proficiency in both drafting and caricature was revealed while he was still a student at the Binghamton Academy, New York. In 1852, when he was only fifteen years old, Cross joined a traveling circus that took him to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and to the first of many Indian encampments that he would draw upon for subject matter throughout his career. Biographers differ as to the year Cross left for Europe, however, he was in Paris from 1852 to 1853 or 1854, where he studied with Rosa Bonheur, a highly esteemed French painter of horses. Upon Cross's return to the United States he was commissioned to paint the studs of wealthy horsemen, including those of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, Robert Bonner, the owner-publisher of The New York Ledger, and "Copper King" Marcus Daly, whose 18,000 acre stock farm was reputed to be the greatest and most valuable horse ranch in the world. Although Cross received the highest pay of any equine artist of his day (up to $35,000. for one order, according to The Horse Review of April 10, 1918, p. 328), he frequently joined traveling circuses and painted the locales where they visited. He also painted portraits of notable contemporaries, such as President Abraham Lincoln, ex-president Ulysses S. Grant, King Edward VII of England, W. F. "Buffalo Bill...

Alphonse Legros (1837-1921), Les Moissonneurs (The Reapers), etching, c. 1890, signed in pencil lower right margin. Reference: Bliss 464, third state (of 3)...

"Homeward Bound" is an original etching by D. Landers after a painting by Charles Harold Davis. The artist signed the piece lower right. It depicts a woman in a field. 13 1/4" x 20...

"Resplendent Trogon" is an original color lithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts two large trogon birds in a lush jungle with various flora and fauna surrounding it. 8 1/8" x 5" ima...

"The Fisherman's Catch" is a signed (in pencil lower right and in plate lower left) etching by James Fagan. It depicts a fisherman walking on a beach in black and white. It is signed...

"Weaver Birds" is an original color lithograph by Louis Prang. It depicts multiple weaver birds with leaves surrounding them. 8 1/4" x 5" image 12 1/2" x...

John Sloan ((1871-1951), Westminster Abbey, c. 1891, the complete set of13 etchings, ribbon bound with ahand-painted gilt cover [many of the etchings...

Lithograph with original hand color. Sheet size: 18.5 x 13.25 inches. Framed Size: 24 x 20 3/8 inches Date : c. 1836-44 Mckenney and Hall's hand colored lithographs remain some of...

John Sloan etching Schuylkill River, 1894, signed, titled, annotated “100 proofs” [only 25 were printed], also signed by the printer “Peter Platt im...

An original antique watercolor by American artist Amos Sangster featuring a dramatic allegorical composition and spectacular hand carved frame.

Published by N. Currier, 152 Nassau St. New York. Drawn on the stone by O. Knirsch. Lithograph hand-colored, 1853. This print was produced by Nathaniel Currier's staff as a Christ...

Aquatint, mezzotint and line engraving, 1839-44. Drawn by Karl Bodmer Engraved by Hurlimann. Printed by Bougeard, Paris. Published in Paris, A. Bertrand; Coblenz, J. H...

Aquatint engraving, 1839-44. Drawn by Karl Bodmer. Engraved by Rene Rollet. Printed by Bougeard, Paris. Published in Paris, A. Bertrand.; Coblenz, J. Holscher; and Lon...

Aquatint, etching and roulette engraving, 1839-44. Drawn by Karl Bodmer. Engraved by R. Rollet. Printed by Bougeard, Paris. Published in Paris, A. Bertrand; Coblenz, J...

Aquatint, mezzotint and etching, 1839-44. Drawn by Karl Bodmer. Grave par J. Hurlimann. Published in Paris, A. Bertrand; Coblenz, J. Holscher and London by Ackermann & ...

Charles Craig (American, 1846-1931) Tracking the Enemy 20 x 24 inches 26.5 x 30.5 inches with frame Inspired by Western and Indian life, Charles Craig d...

Severin Roesen (1815-187) "Nature's Bounty" c. 1860s Oil on Canvas 30 x 40 (Canvas) approx 37 x 47 (Framed) Signed Lower Center *This work's authenticity has been confirmed by Judith...

A well-observed and finely-painted, late 19th century still-life showing a variety of fresh-cut flowers informally arranged in a large, woven-wicker basket, dramatically lit in a gar...

Oil on canvas framed American Navy sailboat with Illegible signature trace

*See VIDEO included in pictures. Can send additional if requested. approx. 19 x 25 inches framed. *This work is included in The Thomas Moran Catalogue Raisonne Project (See Steve G...

George Caleb Bingham (American, Missouri, 1811-1879) Painted by G. C. Bingham. Engraved by Gautier, published by Goupil and Co. Stump Speaking, 1856 Hand Colored Engraving 22 5/16 x 30 inches (image) 32 x 39 inches (framed) The following exhibition review is from The Kansas City Star, September 8, 2013, and refers to an exhibition at the Jackson County Historical Society. By BRIAN BURNES The Kansas City Star Three judges can be found on the second floor of the renovated Jackson County Truman Courthouse in Independence. That wouldn't be unusual, except for the way the judges gaze upon visitors — steady, unmoving and frozen on canvas. Turns out all three judges sat for 19th century Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham. Now their portraits hang on a wall of the new Jackson County Museum of Art, opening Saturday in the recently renovated courthouse, not far from the offices of the county's assessments and collections departments. Many of the 27 Bingham artworks displayed are owned by Ken McClain, Independence lawyer and developer. "Bingham is recognized as a national treasure, but his Jackson County roots are not focused on that frequently," McClain said of the artist, who maintained a studio in his Independence home, later served as a Kansas City police commissioner and is buried in Union Cemetery. "I thought the courthouse would be an appropriate place for a museum dedicated to him." Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders worked with McClain to set aside during courthouse renovations several second-floor rooms that have been transformed into a gallery. Ceiling-mounted pendant lamps that recall the courthouse's 1933 renovation now hang alongside track lighting. Long blinds have been installed in the building's tall window frames to protect the paintings, some of them about 150 years old. "Ken's vision has moved the courthouse renovation from a great project to an incredible one, increasing its value exponentially," Sanders said. "Visitors will come here from all over the country." The Bingham artworks make up the principal holdings of the nonprofit museum, which will be administered by its own board of directors. Other works are on loan from the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Jackson County Historical Society. McClain hopes that future acquisitions, as well as other loaned artworks, can be rotated through the holdings. Bingham began painting about 1830. Although his reputation today may rest on paintings such as The Jolly Flatboatmen...

George Caleb Bingham (American, Missouri, 1811-1879) Painted by G. C. Bingham. Engraved by John Sartain, published by Goupil and Co. The County Election, 1854 Hand Colored Engraving 21 1/4 x 30 inches (image) 30 x 37 inches (sheet) 31.5 x 39 inches (framed) The following exhibition review is from The Kansas City Star, September 8, 2013, and refers to an exhibition at the Jackson County Historical Society. By BRIAN BURNES The Kansas City Star Three judges can be found on the second floor of the renovated Jackson County Truman Courthouse in Independence. That wouldn't be unusual, except for the way the judges gaze upon visitors — steady, unmoving and frozen on canvas. Turns out all three judges sat for 19th century Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham. Now their portraits hang on a wall of the new Jackson County Museum of Art, opening Saturday in the recently renovated courthouse, not far from the offices of the county's assessments and collections departments. Many of the 27 Bingham artworks displayed are owned by Ken McClain, Independence lawyer and developer. "Bingham is recognized as a national treasure, but his Jackson County roots are not focused on that frequently," McClain said of the artist, who maintained a studio in his Independence home, later served as a Kansas City police commissioner and is buried in Union Cemetery. "I thought the courthouse would be an appropriate place for a museum dedicated to him." Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders worked with McClain to set aside during courthouse renovations several second-floor rooms that have been transformed into a gallery. Ceiling-mounted pendant lamps that recall the courthouse's 1933 renovation now hang alongside track lighting. Long blinds have been installed in the building's tall window frames to protect the paintings, some of them about 150 years old. "Ken's vision has moved the courthouse renovation from a great project to an incredible one, increasing its value exponentially," Sanders said. "Visitors will come here from all over the country." The Bingham artworks make up the principal holdings of the nonprofit museum, which will be administered by its own board of directors. Other works are on loan from the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Jackson County Historical Society. McClain hopes that future acquisitions, as well as other loaned artworks, can be rotated through the holdings. Bingham began painting about 1830. Although his reputation today may rest on paintings such as The Jolly Flatboatmen...

George Caleb Bingham (American, Missouri, 1811-1879) Painted by G. C. Bingham Engraved by T. Doney The Jolly Flatboatmen, 1847 Engraving 18 1/2 x 24 ...

Cassilly Adams (American 1843-1921) "Medicine Man" c. 1860s Watercolor on Paper Unsigned Provenance: Questroyal Gallery, NYC Site Size: approx. 14.5 x 8....

James Fairman "Sunset" c. 1880 Oil on Canvas Signed Lower Left Site: 32.5 x 29.5 inches Framed: 46 x 42 inches James Fairman worked as a landscape painter, critic, lecturer, musicia...