American, 1839 - 1886
Born to English parents living in France, Arthur Quartley was taken to London at the age of two. When he was fourteen, the family moved to the United States, settling in Peekskill, New York, where his father, an engraver, taught him to draw. Three years after immigrating, Quartley was apprenticed to a sign painter in New York City. He worked there until 1862, when he relocated in Baltimore, MD to become a partner in his own decorative and sign painting firm, Emmart & Quartley. Although he disliked his work, he kept at it for ten years, painting easel pictures in his spare time in the evenings. Finally, he decided to dissolve his partnership, and by 1873 he had opened his own studio as an easel painter in Baltimore.
Quartley moved to New York several years later and rose speedily to fame as a marine painter. His election as an NAD Associate came relatively rapidly, and membership in the Society of American Artists followed two years later in 1881. In 1885, he spent a year in Europe and seems to have returned in poor health. By the spring of 1886, he was seriously ill, and the members of the NAD quickly elected him an Academician at the Annual Meeting. Quartley wrote to Daniel Huntington the next day (13 May 1886) in appreciation of the "unusual" circumstances of his election. His Academy obituary read at the next Annual Meeting commented upon this exceptional action as well: "The affecting circumstances attending the election of Arthur Quartley to the rank of Academician, during his fatal illness; the comfort it gave him for the last few days of his life, to have been thus cordially appreciated by his brother Artists and his grateful expressions of satisfaction, almost with his dying breath, are all fresh in your memories . . . ."
[Resolution by Corresponding Sec'y, T. Addison Richards, on annoucement of Quartley's death, Council Meeting, October 18, 1886: In the death of Arthur Quartley, NA, the Academy has lost a distinguished member, whose works have done high honor to his profession and who gave sure promise, had his life been prolonged, of still greater achievements. By the force of his strong character andnatural talent and with little or no aid from others -- he quickly won an enviable place amonghis fellow-artists and enriched the world with a long series of works, which, in their special calss, have been but rarely excelled; vigorous and brilliant renderings of the varied and subtle phases of marine scenery, too familiar to the public to need individual mention. They adorn many Gallereis and will be more and more esteemed as the years fly on.
The gifted Artist was, unhappily, taken from us while yet young in years and in the development of his genius. the incidents ofhis life include a fair share of the vicissitudes and struggles not uncommon in the Artist's career.
He was born in Paris, May 24, 1839. In the year 1852, he came with his parents to America. For some years he did the humble work of the sign-painter, both in New York and in Baltimore, still dreaming the while of higher things, until, at the age of thirty-three, his dreams, industriously and intelligently nurtured, began to take visible form and wre realized to all ages in the charming pictures of land and sea which deservedly won for him name and fame and which will ever perpetuate his memory.
We grieve to record his death in New York, on the 19th of May, 1886, in the 47th year of his age.]
[seven paintings in the Annual of 1887--year after his death, all for sale.]
Quartley moved to New York several years later and rose speedily to fame as a marine painter. His election as an NAD Associate came relatively rapidly, and membership in the Society of American Artists followed two years later in 1881. In 1885, he spent a year in Europe and seems to have returned in poor health. By the spring of 1886, he was seriously ill, and the members of the NAD quickly elected him an Academician at the Annual Meeting. Quartley wrote to Daniel Huntington the next day (13 May 1886) in appreciation of the "unusual" circumstances of his election. His Academy obituary read at the next Annual Meeting commented upon this exceptional action as well: "The affecting circumstances attending the election of Arthur Quartley to the rank of Academician, during his fatal illness; the comfort it gave him for the last few days of his life, to have been thus cordially appreciated by his brother Artists and his grateful expressions of satisfaction, almost with his dying breath, are all fresh in your memories . . . ."
[Resolution by Corresponding Sec'y, T. Addison Richards, on annoucement of Quartley's death, Council Meeting, October 18, 1886: In the death of Arthur Quartley, NA, the Academy has lost a distinguished member, whose works have done high honor to his profession and who gave sure promise, had his life been prolonged, of still greater achievements. By the force of his strong character andnatural talent and with little or no aid from others -- he quickly won an enviable place amonghis fellow-artists and enriched the world with a long series of works, which, in their special calss, have been but rarely excelled; vigorous and brilliant renderings of the varied and subtle phases of marine scenery, too familiar to the public to need individual mention. They adorn many Gallereis and will be more and more esteemed as the years fly on.
The gifted Artist was, unhappily, taken from us while yet young in years and in the development of his genius. the incidents ofhis life include a fair share of the vicissitudes and struggles not uncommon in the Artist's career.
He was born in Paris, May 24, 1839. In the year 1852, he came with his parents to America. For some years he did the humble work of the sign-painter, both in New York and in Baltimore, still dreaming the while of higher things, until, at the age of thirty-three, his dreams, industriously and intelligently nurtured, began to take visible form and wre realized to all ages in the charming pictures of land and sea which deservedly won for him name and fame and which will ever perpetuate his memory.
We grieve to record his death in New York, on the 19th of May, 1886, in the 47th year of his age.]
[seven paintings in the Annual of 1887--year after his death, all for sale.]
