Robert Salmon (1775-1845)
Oil on board, titled in pencil on the back “View of Holyhead” attributed to Robert Salmon, English, circa 1830. The painting depicts a beautiful vista from the top of a tall hill looking down on the coast and the sea beyond. At the top of the hill are 2 well-dressed hunters with their rifles. To the right is a meandering road leading down to the water. To the right is a mother and daughter walking down the harbor in colorful red, white and blue clothing. Further to the right on a lower hill is a building in a raised deck; it may be a signaling station for mariners with its three poles. To the left one views the meandering coast line and ahead one sees out to sea. There are many sailing craft dotting the sea. The painting is a fine example of a Salmon coastal painting. The figures and many of the other elements of the painting are typical of Salmon. Another very similar painting by Salmon is titled "South Stack Lighthouse and Holyhead Signal Station, Anglesey, Wales 1842. (PA1063)
Condition Painting: The painting is in excellent condition and shows no signs of restoration.
Condition of Frame: The painting has period gold leaf frame similar to many of the original frames used by Salmon. The frame has fancy applied decoration at the corners and there is a bit of this missing in the bottom left corner.
Dimensions of Painting: Height 8, Width 10 inches.
Dimensions of Frame: Height 13 1/2, Width 15 3/4 inches.
Biography: Born in Whitehaven, England, a small town along the shore of the Irish Sea, Robert Salmon devoted his life to painting the sea in all of its moods. The sources of Salmon’s style lie in the great tradition of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch marine painting, and in the crisp topographical style of the Italian artist Canaletto, who had visited England in 1746, and whose work had a profound influence on a whole generation of British landscape and marine artists. Salmon synthesized these influences with his own love for nautical detail, and became a superb draftsman, specializing in marine subjects. He was unsurpassed in his abilities to accurately depict the many linear intricacies found aboard a fully equipped sailing ship.
After spending much of his early career in England, Salmon boarded a ship out of Liverpool in June of 1828, bound for America. He lived in Boston for the next fourteen years. Despite his short stay in this country, Salmon’s paintings have found their way into numerous collections, including those of the National Museum of American Art and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Boston.
In addition to a body of some four hundred known works, Salmon’s legacy was passed to a number of artists who learned to paint in a similar manner. The most important of that group was Fitz Henry Lane who, upon the departure of Salmon, assumed the mantle of leading American marine artist. Other artists who were also influenced by Salmon include Albert Van Beest, William Bradford, Mary Blood Mellen, George Curtis, and Clement Drew.
