Early Fine Art Dealers specializes in valuing and purchasing important paintings from the 17th century through the early 20th century. Our buyers are in constant search for fine works of art and paintings, spanning the globe for original well-known Old Master, European, American, and early California art. Each year we preview and participate in hundreds of private sales, art shows, gallery showings, exhibitions and auctions. We are in constant search for fine works to purchase. Please contact us today to discuss the sale of one of your paintings. Please note that our gallery only deals with original paintings. No Prints Please.
WE ARE DEALERS OF ORIGINAL PAINTINGS: To contact one of our gallery fine art experts about selling your painting or buying paintings for your collection, complete the form below. Please note that our gallery only deals with original paintings. NO PRINTS PLEASE.
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823 - 1880)
One of America's original Luminists, painter Sanford Robinson Gifford captured the atmosphere of a landscape, without relying on minute details or topography. Instead he balanced the scene with brilliant light and strong shadows.
He had attended Brown University, but gave up his college career after two years in order to dedicate himself to painting. He studied with watercolor painter John Rubens Smith, and did a tremendous amount of anatomical work before a fortuitous walking journey in the summer of 1846 inspired him to focus primarily on the landscape.
He had always been a great admirer landscape painter Thomas Cole, and this combined with the sketches and sights he had enjoyed while exploring the Berkshire and Catskill Mountains, turned his attention wholly on landscape painting. Gifford would be remarkably different however, as he avoided the European tradition of landscape as a setting and not as the subject.
In 1855 he headed to Europe where he first encountered the French Barbizon painters, and where he was inspired by the use of color in the work of J.M.W. Turner. He also traveled for a while in Italy along with Albert Bierstadt.
During the American Civil War he served in the Union Army, and painted many scenes of quiet and peace that made it clear he longed for a return to such settings himself. Following the war he was a part of a geological survey of Wyoming. He took a second European tour in 1868.
Throughout his career he frequently exhibited his works and belonged to several major organizations, including the National Academy of Design. His works are in the collections of dozens of museums, including the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.