(August 18, 1863 - March 18, 1930) was an American painter best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history, entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Stephen James Ferris, a portrait painter and a devotee of Jean-L??on G??rôme (after whom he was named) and Mariano Fortuny.He grew up around art, having been trained by his father and having two acclaimed painters, Edward Moran and Thomas Moran, as uncles. Ferris enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1879 and trained further at the Acad??mie Julian beginning in 1883 under William-Adolphe Bouguereau.He also met his namesake G??rôme, who greatly influenced Ferris's decision to paint scenes from American history. As Ferris wrote in his unpublished autobiography, "[G??rôme's] axiom was that one would paint best that with which he is most familiar". However, initially his subjects were Orientalist in nature, that movement having been in vogue when he was young. Some of his material was original, some of it took after Fortuny, but he was skilled enough, despite never having had any experience with Asia. In 1882, he exhibited a painting entitled Feeding the Ibis, which was valued at $600. By 1895, Ferris had gained a reputation as a historical painter, and he embarked on his dream of creating a series of paintings that told a historical narrative. In 1898 he sold one of these, General Howe's Levee, 1777, but he later regretted it, realizing that such a series could not be complete if the separate paintings could not be kept together. As such, he never sold another one of those, but he did sell the reproduction rights to various publishing companies. This later would have the effect of greatly popularizing his work, as these companies made prints, postcards, calendars and blank-backed trade cards use in advertisements. Laminated cards of these works were still being sold as late as 1984. The Landing of William PennThe paintings showed idealized portrayals of famous moments from American history, but were often historically inaccurate. The Landing of William Penn, for example, shows Penn being greeted at New Castle by American Indians who are clothed in the tradition of tribes from the Great Plains. In The First Thanksgiving 1621, the black outfits the Pilgrims are shown wearing are wrong, and the Wampanoag did not wear feathered war bonnets, nor would they have been sitting on the ground. The complete series was shown at Independence Hall in Philadelphia from 1913 to 1930, then moved next door to Congress Hall. In later years it was shown in a number of locations, including the Smithsonian Institution, before being returned to the Ferris family.  Related Paintings of Jean Leon Gerome Ferris :. | Building the Cradle of Liberty | Captain Kidd in New York Harbor | Birth of Pennsylvania | Building the Cradle of Liberty | The First Thanksgiving |
Related Artists:
Heinrich Eduard Linde-Walther
1868-1939
Louis Welden Hawkins
British 1849-1910 Louis Welden Hawkins Galleries Louis Welden Hawkins was born in Germany ( 1 July 1849 ). His mother was an Austrian Baroness, his father Englishman. Hawkins moved soon to France and took later French nationality. Hawkins attended the famous Acad??mie Julian in Paris. Hawkins became famous after his expositions in the Salon de la Societe des Artistes Francais. His first work was shown in the Salon in 1881. After that, expositions followed at the Salon de la Societe des Beaux Artes (1894-1911), the Salon de la Rose-Croix (1894-95) and La Libre Esthetque in Brussels. He spended his last years in Brittany, where he painted mostly landscapes. Louis Welden Hawkins died in 1910 and was honoured a year later at the Salon Nationale.
POST, Frans
Dutch Baroque Era Painter, 1612-1680 Painter and draughtsman, brother of Pieter Post. He was one of the first trained European landscape artists to paint in the New World. His paintings and drawings without exception depict Brazilian scenery with exotic buildings, plants, animals and natives. He probably received his early training from his father and was also influenced by his brother's early landscapes, although no works exist from this period. When Johan Maurits, Count of Nassau-Siegen went to Brazil as Governor General of the Dutch colony in the north-east in October 1636, Frans Post, together with ALBERT ECKHOUT, was among the artists and scientists on board to record various aspects of Brazilian life, landscape,