American, 1793 - 1856
Doughty showed interest and some talent in art while a school boy, but when about fifteen or sixteen, and time to begin to earn a living, he was apprenticed, along with a younger brother, Samuel, in the leather trade. In 1814 he and Samuel were listed in the Philadelphia city directory as in partnership in the leather business, but by 1816 they had gone their separate ways: Samuel, to sea; Thomas, to art. He made his debut as a painter showing a landscape in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts spring exhibition of 1816. Apparently, he was not an instant success for the next year he returned to being a leather "currier." However in 1820 he finally abandoned this business and committed to being a painter of landscapes. Doughty is generally credited as the first American artist to devote himself entirely to the subject of landscape.
Doughty followed the practice of aspiring American artists in the early years of the nineteenth century: he studied engravings of the Old Masters and copied those he could see, which were especially the French, Dutch, and Italian landscapes in the collection of Robert Gilmor of Baltimore. Between the influence of these models and the prevailing perceptions of the purpose of the art of landscape at the time, his paintings adhered to the Claudian principles of composition and idealization of subject, rather than depicted the American scene with naturalistic fidelity.
Doughty remained resident in Philadelphia into 1828, although several years earlier he had begun to travel extensively around Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York State, Connecticut and Massachusetts; when he left his native city it was for a stay of two years in Boston. From 1830 to 1832 he was again in Philadelphia, where he concentrated on the publication of a liberally illustrated monthly magazine, The Cabinet of Natural History and American Rural Sports. When this venture failed, he returned to Boston for a period of five years. This was a particularly successful time for him. Besides enjoying considerably patronage, he made frequent sketching trips to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the Catskills in New York, and along the New England coast; and taught drawing and painting. In 1834, as part of a protest against an exhibiton of European paintings being held at the Athenaeum Gallery, he joined Francis Alexander, Alvan Fisher, and Chester Harding in organizing the first exhibition devoted exclusively to American artists to he held in Boston. Doughty could finally afford to go abroad in 1837, and pass a year in England studying and copying the Old Masters. When he returned it was to settle in New York.
He continued to travel, however, spending summers at various sites on the Hudson; visiting a brother in Washington in 1842; returning to Boston in 1843; and spending some of the winter of 1844 in New Orleans. In the autumn of 1845 Doughty again went to England. He remained abroad about a year and a half, and as on the previous visit, exhibited at the British Institution, and the Society of British Artists; for part of 1846 he was living in Paris. From his return in 1847, Doughty was essentially resident in New York, but he now found few patrons interested in his pastoral, composed, and often repetitive landscape paintings. By 1853 he had virtually ceased painting and had been reduced to severe poverty by his death three years later.
In the earlier years of his career Doughty was a frequent and prolific contributor to all the major exhibition venues then available: After the trial appearance at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1816, he became a regular contributor to its exhibitions from 1822 to 1843; his paintings continued to be shown in quantity thereafter, but were works loaned from prominent collections. At the Boston Athenaeum, he was a contributor from it first exhibition, in 1827, through the exhibition of 1836, with later appearances of his works, again reflecting the choice of the organization committees and lenders, rather than hopes of the artist.
In New York his works were shown in notable quantity by the Apollo Association from its first exhibition in 1838 through 1841, and he was a favorite of the Association's successor, the American Art-Union, which acquired and distributed four or five of his canvases each in the years 1844, '46, '47, and '48, fourteen in 1849, and seventeen in 1850. At the Academy, where exhibitions were formed by a jury of members, Doughty was represented by one to three works in the first, second, third, and fifth annual exhibitions, 1826-28 and 1830, and after making New York his base, almost every year from 1839 through 1850.
Doughty was among the first roster of honorary artist-members the Academy elected in 1827, when he was a Philadelphian. Upon settling in New York a decade later, he was therefore eligible for election directly to Academician. That he was never so invited to full membership is perhaps accountable to his, by that time, retarditaire approach to depiction of landscape, and possibly to aspects of his personality suggested by Cummings: "July 24 [1856]. Died, Thomas Doughty, Honorary Member--a landscape painter of much merit, particulary to be remembered by the soft and sunny tones of his pictures, in which he seemd to delight. Sylvan scenes were his choice, and he painted them with great delicacy of touch. His pecuniary encouragement did not appear to meet his expectations, or indeed, to have been important in amount and was, doubtless, not without its effect in souring an over-sensitive nature."
Doughty followed the practice of aspiring American artists in the early years of the nineteenth century: he studied engravings of the Old Masters and copied those he could see, which were especially the French, Dutch, and Italian landscapes in the collection of Robert Gilmor of Baltimore. Between the influence of these models and the prevailing perceptions of the purpose of the art of landscape at the time, his paintings adhered to the Claudian principles of composition and idealization of subject, rather than depicted the American scene with naturalistic fidelity.
Doughty remained resident in Philadelphia into 1828, although several years earlier he had begun to travel extensively around Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York State, Connecticut and Massachusetts; when he left his native city it was for a stay of two years in Boston. From 1830 to 1832 he was again in Philadelphia, where he concentrated on the publication of a liberally illustrated monthly magazine, The Cabinet of Natural History and American Rural Sports. When this venture failed, he returned to Boston for a period of five years. This was a particularly successful time for him. Besides enjoying considerably patronage, he made frequent sketching trips to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the Catskills in New York, and along the New England coast; and taught drawing and painting. In 1834, as part of a protest against an exhibiton of European paintings being held at the Athenaeum Gallery, he joined Francis Alexander, Alvan Fisher, and Chester Harding in organizing the first exhibition devoted exclusively to American artists to he held in Boston. Doughty could finally afford to go abroad in 1837, and pass a year in England studying and copying the Old Masters. When he returned it was to settle in New York.
He continued to travel, however, spending summers at various sites on the Hudson; visiting a brother in Washington in 1842; returning to Boston in 1843; and spending some of the winter of 1844 in New Orleans. In the autumn of 1845 Doughty again went to England. He remained abroad about a year and a half, and as on the previous visit, exhibited at the British Institution, and the Society of British Artists; for part of 1846 he was living in Paris. From his return in 1847, Doughty was essentially resident in New York, but he now found few patrons interested in his pastoral, composed, and often repetitive landscape paintings. By 1853 he had virtually ceased painting and had been reduced to severe poverty by his death three years later.
In the earlier years of his career Doughty was a frequent and prolific contributor to all the major exhibition venues then available: After the trial appearance at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1816, he became a regular contributor to its exhibitions from 1822 to 1843; his paintings continued to be shown in quantity thereafter, but were works loaned from prominent collections. At the Boston Athenaeum, he was a contributor from it first exhibition, in 1827, through the exhibition of 1836, with later appearances of his works, again reflecting the choice of the organization committees and lenders, rather than hopes of the artist.
In New York his works were shown in notable quantity by the Apollo Association from its first exhibition in 1838 through 1841, and he was a favorite of the Association's successor, the American Art-Union, which acquired and distributed four or five of his canvases each in the years 1844, '46, '47, and '48, fourteen in 1849, and seventeen in 1850. At the Academy, where exhibitions were formed by a jury of members, Doughty was represented by one to three works in the first, second, third, and fifth annual exhibitions, 1826-28 and 1830, and after making New York his base, almost every year from 1839 through 1850.
Doughty was among the first roster of honorary artist-members the Academy elected in 1827, when he was a Philadelphian. Upon settling in New York a decade later, he was therefore eligible for election directly to Academician. That he was never so invited to full membership is perhaps accountable to his, by that time, retarditaire approach to depiction of landscape, and possibly to aspects of his personality suggested by Cummings: "July 24 [1856]. Died, Thomas Doughty, Honorary Member--a landscape painter of much merit, particulary to be remembered by the soft and sunny tones of his pictures, in which he seemd to delight. Sylvan scenes were his choice, and he painted them with great delicacy of touch. His pecuniary encouragement did not appear to meet his expectations, or indeed, to have been important in amount and was, doubtless, not without its effect in souring an over-sensitive nature."
