Francis Silva

Francis Silva painted calm harbours and coastlines filled with soft, glowing light. His seascapes, with still water, distant sails and hazy skies, belong to the American style known as Luminism.

Born in New York City, he began as a sign painter and carriage decorator. He served in the Civil War and afterwards devoted himself to painting, working along the coasts of New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and on the Hudson River. In 1872 he became a member of the American watercolour society in New York. He was not widely known in his lifetime, but his reputation has grown steadily since.

An Old Town by the Sea, Gloucester Harbor and Approaching Storm show his calm water and luminous skies.