Artist Biography
Born in Scotland and raised in Canada, James Hope spent his adult life in America, where he became one of its leading painters of portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes. Hope settled in Fairhaven, Vermont at the age of fifteen and spent five years working as a wagon-maker’s apprentice until he saved enough money to pursue a painting career. He trained at Castleton Seminary for a year and worked as a portrait painter until 1849, when a meeting with Frederic Church inspired him to turn his focus to landscape painting. It was in that field that Hope found his true calling,
Born in Scotland and raised in Canada, James Hope spent his adult life in America, where he became one of its leading painters of portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes. Hope settled in Fairhaven, Vermont at the age of fifteen and spent five years working as a wagon-maker’s apprentice until he saved enough money to pursue a painting career. He trained at Castleton Seminary for a year and worked as a portrait painter until 1849, when a meeting with Frederic Church inspired him to turn his focus to landscape painting. It was in that field that Hope found his true calling, and success soon followed. He established a studio in New York in the 1850s and exhibited at all of the major art institutions. Hope’s work is now featured in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Born in Scotland and raised in Canada, James Hope spent his adult life in America, where he became one of its leading painters of portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes. Hope settled in Fairhaven, Vermont at the age of fifteen and spent five years working as a wagon-maker’s apprentice until he saved enough money to pursue a painting career. He trained at Castleton Seminary for a year and worked as a portrait painter until 1849, when a meeting with Frederic Church inspired him to turn his focus to landscape painting. It was in that field that Hope found his true calling, and success soon followed. He established a studio in New York in the 1850s and exhibited at all of the major art institutions. Hope’s work is now featured in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.