Skip to main contentBiographyLandscape painting was not widely accepted as an art form in the early decades of the nineteenth century, as most patrons focused on portraiture and, to a lesser extent, history painting. The first paintings of nature inclined toward the picturesque, an approach popularized in England that also promoted the beautiful and the sublime. The evolution of a native tradition of landscape painting was inspired by America’s abundance of untouched wilderness. Thomas Doughty (1793–1856) was a pioneer and among the first artists to pursue the subject exclusively. His contemplative landscapes are characterized by a diffused light that imparts a subdued atmospheric quality to his scenes. In 1839, at an exhibition at the National Academy of Design in New York, the English critic Thomas R. Hofland stated that “in one department of art, and an elevated one, that of landscape painting, we venture to predict, a few years will see the United States occupy a very distinguished rank.”[1] With the help of figures such as Doughty and his contemporary Thomas Cole, Hofland’s prediction was soon realized.
Doughty was born in Philadelphia to a large family and was encouraged to pursue art by his older brother William, a naval draftsman based in Washington. To earn some income, Doughty worked with his younger brother James as a leather currier in Philadelphia. The additional burden of his own growing family took a toll on Doughty’s career, as one contemporary critic lamented: “if he had pursued art with the pure love of nature, which first impelled him to produce a picture, he would have been unequalled in the representation of nature; but like too many persons of great and genial hearts, he married at a very early age, and soon found himself called upon for the support of a large family.” [2]
In 1820, Doughty turned to painting full-time. A review of an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1816 mentions one of Doughty’s early landscapes, although its whereabouts remains unknown. According to his own statement in William Dunlap’s Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, Doughty was a self-taught artist with no formal art training. He forged relationships with members of the artistic community in Philadelphia that aided in his development as a painter, and he studied the master works in the collection of his early patron Robert Gilmor, Jr. Among these were landscapes by Jacob Ruisdael, Salvator Rosa, and Nicolas Poussin. These stylistic influences are evident in the restrained picturesque quality of Doughty’s canvases and his formulaic compositions. His friendship with contemporary artists Raphael Peale and Thomas Sully led to Doughty’s appointment as a drawing instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design in 1827, and lived off and on for a decade, 1828 to 1838, in Boston. The most important experience for Doughty, however, was his trip to London in 1837. The influence of the English picturesque landscape tradition is apparent in his work after his return to Philadelphia the following year.
At the peak of his success, Doughty, along with Thomas Cole, was embraced as a master of American landscape painting. Doughty was considered a sensitive painter who was skilled at capturing the beauty of nature, while Cole was lauded for his intellectual approach to landscape through allegorical mastery. Despite his accomplishments and often-warm reception, critics were often harsh. During the last years of his life, he retreated from the art world entirely and died in poverty at the age of sixty-three.
Notes:
[1] Hoffland quoted in John K. Howat, “A Climate for Landscape Painters,” American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1987), 52.
[2] E. Anna Lewis quoted in Frank Henry Goodyear, Thomas Doughty, 1793–1856; an American Pioneer in Landscape Painting (Philadelphia, PA: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1973), 12.
[3] Dunlap quoted in Goodyear, Thomas Doughty,13.
Thomas Doughty
1793 - 1856
Doughty was born in Philadelphia to a large family and was encouraged to pursue art by his older brother William, a naval draftsman based in Washington. To earn some income, Doughty worked with his younger brother James as a leather currier in Philadelphia. The additional burden of his own growing family took a toll on Doughty’s career, as one contemporary critic lamented: “if he had pursued art with the pure love of nature, which first impelled him to produce a picture, he would have been unequalled in the representation of nature; but like too many persons of great and genial hearts, he married at a very early age, and soon found himself called upon for the support of a large family.” [2]
In 1820, Doughty turned to painting full-time. A review of an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1816 mentions one of Doughty’s early landscapes, although its whereabouts remains unknown. According to his own statement in William Dunlap’s Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, Doughty was a self-taught artist with no formal art training. He forged relationships with members of the artistic community in Philadelphia that aided in his development as a painter, and he studied the master works in the collection of his early patron Robert Gilmor, Jr. Among these were landscapes by Jacob Ruisdael, Salvator Rosa, and Nicolas Poussin. These stylistic influences are evident in the restrained picturesque quality of Doughty’s canvases and his formulaic compositions. His friendship with contemporary artists Raphael Peale and Thomas Sully led to Doughty’s appointment as a drawing instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design in 1827, and lived off and on for a decade, 1828 to 1838, in Boston. The most important experience for Doughty, however, was his trip to London in 1837. The influence of the English picturesque landscape tradition is apparent in his work after his return to Philadelphia the following year.
At the peak of his success, Doughty, along with Thomas Cole, was embraced as a master of American landscape painting. Doughty was considered a sensitive painter who was skilled at capturing the beauty of nature, while Cole was lauded for his intellectual approach to landscape through allegorical mastery. Despite his accomplishments and often-warm reception, critics were often harsh. During the last years of his life, he retreated from the art world entirely and died in poverty at the age of sixty-three.
Notes:
[1] Hoffland quoted in John K. Howat, “A Climate for Landscape Painters,” American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1987), 52.
[2] E. Anna Lewis quoted in Frank Henry Goodyear, Thomas Doughty, 1793–1856; an American Pioneer in Landscape Painting (Philadelphia, PA: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1973), 12.
[3] Dunlap quoted in Goodyear, Thomas Doughty,13.
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