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Highlights

James Hamilton (American 1819 - 1878)

19th Century Fine Art Legacy

From the contrast of subjects, it is evident that the scope of this artist ranges from the most serenely imaginative to the wildest natural scenes. His style is bold and free; he does not aim at high finish; he is the reverse of literal and aims to give emphatically his own feeling and sense of a subject. – Tuckerman, 1867.

Up until this time, 19th century America hadn’t seen paintings such as his. Described as “one of the ablest, but also one of the most eccentric of the Philadelphia artists. It was said that his genius rivaled that of England’s J. M. W. Turner in poetry and scenical splendor. In fact, he would become known as the American Turner. However, unlike the classically-trained Turner, Hamilton was essentially a self-taught artist and his remarkable success was the result of his own genius and of his persevering industry.

Hamilton was born in Entrien, Ireland in 1819 to Scottish parents. When he was 15, he emigrated to Philadelphia with his parents. To nurture his developing talent, a young Hamilton received encouragement and criticism from Philadelphia engraver John Sartain and other Philadelphia artists. His development as an artist was further enhanced when a wealthy Philadelphia patron sponsored his studies at a drawing school in Philadelphia, supplemented by some further study in engraving and etching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

In his early 20s, Hamilton became a drawing instructor in Philadelphia and taught future renowned artists brothers Edward and Thomas Moran, among other future successful artists. Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, he worked as an illustrator, providing illustrations for John Frost’s Pictorial History of the American Navy and for books by Elisha Kent Kane -- The U.S. Grinnell Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin and Arctic Explorations.

In 1854, Hamilton crossed the Atlantic to travel along the coasts of England and Wales where he made sketches of coastal scenery. This is most likely the time that his re-directed his focus to marine painting, specializing in famous ships and historical sea battles. Although he was unable to meet Turner in person during his visit, for the great artist had died in 1851, he was able to study his paintings and became an admirer. Perhaps there just a hint of Turner’s influence on his later paintings.

If you are a ship or naval battle historian, seek out his famous sea and naval paintings: Capture of the ‘Serapis’ by John Paul Jones" Wrecked Hopes, The Bombardment of Fort Mifflin, A wreck off the Coast of Sicily, Mersey at Liverpool, Navel Engagement of the ‘Monitor and the Merrimac’, His style in these evokes the tension and drama of battle -- emotion expressed in his application of bold color and dramatic lighting effects. Hamilton continued to paint famous ships and sea battles into the 1860s; however, a scene that could be considered a true masterpiece was painted in 1864, during the height of the Civil -- The Last Days of Pompei. Perhaps, the artist, expressed himself in the best way he could regarding the seeming endless war – in a painting. This stunning scene captures the destruction of that ancient Roman city in Italy and could be described, as the Philadelphia Times reported in his obituary, on March 13, 1878, imaginative, weird, eerie, full of suggestion – painted in a free, broad style that overrode details and leaped at once to results.’

Hamilton also painted scenes along the United States Atlantic coastline from Massachusetts to Maryland. The same year that he painted The Last Days of Pompei, he painted a scene of Niagara Falls. Other artists have painted it, but a Philadelphia newspaper correspondent commented on that “it must be universally conceded that he has succeeded where all other artists have failed,”and that further stated that

"He has the power to delineate on canvas the great cataract in a style which neither Church or Gignoux has surpassed. In no other picture I have seen, the has immense grandeur of Niagara been so remarkable transferred to canvas."

In 1875, Hamilton moved to San Francisco, after having sold most of his possessions – studies, pictures, engravings, books, and art. The painter of romantic seascapes was entering another phase of his life, one that included a trip around the world painting all its ‘artistic attractions’. He soon joined the San Francisco Art Association and opened a studio. For three years he painted scenes of the San Francisco Bay and scenes of Pacific Ocean.

Hamilton never realized his romantic dream of sailing around the world – in 1878 he died. By the time he had arrived in San Francico, he was already internationally famous. He had become such an integral member of the local art scene that his funeral was held at the San Francisco Art Association and his colleagues were pallbearers.

It is unfortunate that Hamilton did not live to travel the world’s oceans, and never more to paint scenes with ‘sensational aspects, loose accents of light, hot silvery colors’ and ‘dabbled to a dangerous extent in vivid coloring.’

But, perhaps in another realm he is.

Written by Joan Hawk, Researcher and Co-Owner Bedford Fine Art Gallery, August 29, 2025.

Use only with the permission of Bedford Fine Art Gallery.

References:

  1. Huges, Edan Milton, 1986, Artists in California, pg. 194, Hughes Pub. Co., San Francisco, CA.

  2. Tuckerman, Henry T., 1867, Book of the Artists: American Artists Life, G.P. Putnam & Son, New York; Sampson Low & Co., London.

  3. Wilmerding, John, 1987, American Marine Painting, pp. 138-139, Abrams, NY.

  4. Zellman, Michael, David, 1987, 300 Years of American Art, Volume I, pg. 477, Wellfleet Press.

  5. https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-press-jan-31-1861-p-1/

  6. https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphis-inquirer-/mar-25-1862-p-4/

  7. https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphis-inquirer-/mar-25-1862-p-4/

  8. https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-times-mar-13-1878-p-2/

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