Robert Swain Gifford

Who was Robert Swain Gifford?

Robert Swain Gifford was an American landscape painter. He was influenced by the Barbizon school.

Much of his work focuses on the landscapes of New England, where he was born. He, along with Victorian contemporaries from the White Mountain and Hudson River Schools, helped immortalize the majestic cliffs of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. His painting from the island, "Pettes Cove," is illustrative of his masterful marine work. In 1867, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full member in 1878.

In the 1870s, he undertook several journeys to Europe and the Middle East and painted some subjects from those regions. In 1899, he was an artist on the famous Harriman Alaska Expedition.

Gifford died at his home in New York City in 1905.

Some of his works hang in the most prominent galleries in the USA, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC. He was a member of the Society of American Artists.