Martin Johnson Heade 1819-1904

Martin Johnson Heade’s prolific career took him from the northeastern coastline of the United States to the tropics of South America, painting subjects ranging from marsh scenes and seascapes of the Atlantic Ocean to exotic flora and fauna in Florida and South America. An important figure among the second generation of Hudson River School painters, Martin Johnson Heade made an indelible mark on the history of American art with his luminous technique and the ability to elevate representations of nature to the level of sublime. He had a remarkable facility for capturing atmospheric effects, particularly the luminescence of a sunset sky. 

In 1859 Heade rented a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building, a burgeoning artistic center for New York landscape artists including Frederic Church with whom Heade immediately became friends. Heade’s summers were spent traveling around Newport and Narragansett, Rhode Island; this area inspired his landscapes which were dominated by marsh scenes and seascapes and possess a luminous spirit similar to the work of his contemporaries John Frederick Kensett and Sanford Robinson Gifford. In 1861 Heade moved to Boston where he remained for several years, during which time he continued to travel through Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire, and explored the salt marshes near Newburyport, Massachusetts.