Stormy Landscape
Primarily self-taught, Shaw became a successful landscape painter—first in Bath, England, and later in London. In 1817 he immigrated to Philadelphia, where he played a key role in the development of an American landscape tradition. Completed one year after his arrival, this painting reveals Shaw’s adherence to British Romanticism in its depiction of a dramatic storm engulfing a medieval castle. A work of bravura technique and ambition, the painting was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1818, where numerous aspiring artists—including the young landscape painter Thomas Cole—likely encountered it.
Artwork Details
- Title: Stormy Landscape
- Artist: Joshua Shaw (American (born England), Bellingborough, Lincolnshire 1776–1861 Bordentown, New Jersey)
- Date: 1818
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 31 1/8 × 43 1/2 in. (79.1 × 110.5 cm)
- Credit Line: Gift of Erving and Joyce Wolf, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.442
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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