William Mason Brown Art | Questroyal

One of the most prestigious artists of the Hudson River School’s second generation, William Mason Brown was renowned for his picturesque landscapes and meticulously rendered still-lifes. Born in Troy, New York, Brown began his career as a portraitist before shifting his focus to landscapes and, later, still-lifes. During his earliest years as an artist, Brown drew inspiration from the compositions of the Hudson River’s School’s first generation; the artist created a number of canvases during this period that expressed the beauty of nature in a painterly, Romantic style akin to the works of Thomas Cole. In 1860, Brown abruptly adopted a more precise recording of nature’s details in the manner of the Pre-Raphaelites and also turned his artistic gaze towards the genre of still-lifes. His precise, richly-detailed paintings of fruits greatly appealed to a broad spectrum of the American public. In order to make his works available to patrons of varying classes (and gain another source of income), Brown allowed the prominent lithography firm, Currier and Ives, to reproduce his paintings in printed form. Additionally, Brown exhibited at the National Academy of Design for thirty-one years. His paintings can now be found at The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.