Warren Sheppard (American 1858 - 1937)
Vintage Sailboat Seascape Oil on Canvas Painting (16x22")
Spectacular original oil on canvas of a sailboat/schooner in quiet waters. A particularly impressive work by renown marine artist Warren Sheppard. The detail and light , with spectacular skies bring this late 19th/early 20th century day of sailing to life. Very good-excellent condition. Size is 16x22" unframed, about 19x25" framed. Signed "Warren Sheppard" lower right. Came from an art-established New England home.
The late 19th/early 20th century stretcher has been put into a more contemporary frame. * See enlargeable images above and below.
An example of the intense demand for Sheppard's work: in August 2006, his "The Quiet Sea" sold at auction for $65, 175.
BIO:
A marine painter, Warren Sheppard was a designer and navigator of racing yachts and sailed widely along the New England coast. He won the famous New York-to-Bermuda race and published an authoritative book titled "Practical Navigation." He was also known for his canal scenes of Venice.
He took art lessons from marine painter Maurice De Haas and exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association, the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy.
A student of Dutch marine artist, Mauritz de Haas, Warren Sheppard built two successful careers around his love of the sea: marine painting and yacht designing.
He was born in 1858 in Greenwich, New Jersey, a town on the Delaware River below Philadelphia, which has been associated with ships and shipping since the earliest Colonial times. His father was a sea captain and the young Sheppard took many voyages with his father to make artistic studies. He learned perspective drawing at Cooper Union in New York City in addition to his studies with de Haas. In 1879, he spent four months sketching Mediterranean port cities and coastal views including Gibraltar, Genoa, Naples and Messina in Sicily. Between 1888 and 1893, he also studied painting in Venice and Paris.
By the time he was in his mid-thirties, he had established himself as a successful illustrator and painter. The yachts he painted were the most lavish of his day, owned by the wealthiest of men. He was an expert in the design and rigging of ships of present and earlier times. His work was highly regarded for its authenticity as well as its artistic merit.
Sheppard was also an expert navigator and sailed a number of famous yachts in races. Twice he was to command Tamerlane when it won the New York to Bermuda run. His book, Practical Navigation, was used for many years by the United States Naval Academy. Though he retired from the sea, Sheppard continued to paint until his death in Brooklyn, New York in 1937. ( REF: A.M. Taylor: Falk: Who Was Who in American Art ).
Exhibited:
Denver Exposition 1884-Gold medal
Chicago Exposition - 1892
St. Louis Exposition-1904
Brooklyn Allied Artists Group Shows - 1874-1881
National Academy of Design - 1880-1899
Collections:
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT
Addison Gallery of American Art (MA)
Phillips Academy, Andover
Springfield Public Library
