WILLIAM E. NORTON (American, 1843-1916)
“ICE ENCRUSTED SHIP AND TUG OFF BOSTON LIGHT”
Old Antique Oil Painting on canvas

With stunning detail, color and depth. Signed indistinctly W. E. Norton, l.r.; dated 1877; oil on canvas.
Highly Listed Artist. In September 2007 a very similar (almost identical style, subject and size) sold for $26.500

Size: 15 x 25” unframed

Condition: 3 inch crack with restoration above sail, u.r.; with corresponding patch on verso, verso painted green

BIO:

Born in Boston in 1843, William Norton became a noted marine painter, stirred by his youth when he sailed on family-owned ships. He studied at the Lowell Institute in Boston, and with George Inness, and then established a studio in Boston.

In the early 1870s, he went to Paris and became a student with Chevreuse and A. Vollon, and then he settled in London where he exhibited throughout the last quarter of the 19th century. His reputation there was based on his scenes of the Thames River, and ocean and coastal views.

In 1901, he and his wife returned to the United States and settled in New York City. He also painted at Monhegan Island, Maine, where a treacherous ledge on the southern side of the island is named "Norton's Ledge" for him.

He was a member of the Boston Art Club with whom he exhibited from 1873 to 1909. He also exhibited with the Pennsylvania Academy, the Royal Academy in London, the Paris Salon, the 1893 Chicago Exposition, and the Art Institute of Chicago.