American, 1833 - 1927
W. P. Dana made his artistic debut in 1857 in both the Academy and the Boston Athenaeum annual exhibitions with similar (or perhaps the same) paintings: Waiting for the Fishing-Boat, a Scene on the Coast of Normandy, shown in New York; and Etretat, Coast of Normandy. Children Looking for the Return of their Father's Fishing Boat, in Boston, where it was lent by G. W. Gilbert. At the time he sent his painting for the Academy's consideration, he was living in Paris. For approximately the next dozen years Dana's genre, landscape, and seascape paintings continued to be regularly shown at the Academy, the Athenaeum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and many other venues around the country. He lived in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York from 1862 to 1869, but except for showing two paintings at the Boston Athenaeum exhibition of 1871-72, his whereabouts and activity from 1869 to 1876, when he became a permanent expatriate, are unknown. Dana resumed exhibiting regularly with the Academy in 1879, sending predominantly Normandy and Brittany coastal scenes from a Paris address, through 1889.
Despite his apparent, albeit moderate, success with paintings that in their French-influenced style were somewhat advanced for their day, he went virtually unnoticed in the contemporary press and subsequent histories of American art.
The memorial following his death read into Council minutes on April 27, 1927, offers a rare biographical summary:
[block quote:]
Born in Boston, Mass, February 18th, 1833. He was a son of Samuel Dana, a banker. Mr. Dana was educated at Chauncy Hall and Boston Latin School. He was attracted to a sailor's life and made several voyages. Then he decided to study art. He went to Paris in 1852 and became a pupil of Picot and Le Poiterin, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts 1854-62, spending summers sketching in Normandy and Brittany. He returned to the United States in 1862 and was elected an A N A in 1862, and N A in 1863.
He painted in New York City from 1862 to 1870 and also in Newport, R.I., and afterwards established his studio in Paris, France. His first pictures were marines but subsequently he treated genre scenes with success. He also painted children, horses and dogs. Among his principal works are "Chase of the Frigate Constitution," "Waiting for the Fishing Boat," "French Peasant Girl," "Maternal Care," "Heart's Ease," "Land of Nod," "English Grey Hound," "Gathering Seaweed," [and] "Off the French Coast" . . . .
He was descended from Richard Dana who came from England and settled in Cambridge [Massachusetts] in 1640, and was a relative of the celebrated Richard Dana (1699-1772) also of Richard H. Dana. Mr. Dana married Anna Bronson, daughter of Col. James B. Murray of New York in 1855.
He received awards: Third Class Medal at the Paris Exposition 1878, Bronze Medal in 1889. First Prize in Marine Painting, at P.A.F.A. 1881. He lived at the time of his death at #57 Onslow Gardens, London, England. He lived in Europe since 1876.
Despite his apparent, albeit moderate, success with paintings that in their French-influenced style were somewhat advanced for their day, he went virtually unnoticed in the contemporary press and subsequent histories of American art.
The memorial following his death read into Council minutes on April 27, 1927, offers a rare biographical summary:
[block quote:]
Born in Boston, Mass, February 18th, 1833. He was a son of Samuel Dana, a banker. Mr. Dana was educated at Chauncy Hall and Boston Latin School. He was attracted to a sailor's life and made several voyages. Then he decided to study art. He went to Paris in 1852 and became a pupil of Picot and Le Poiterin, at the Ecole des Beaux Arts 1854-62, spending summers sketching in Normandy and Brittany. He returned to the United States in 1862 and was elected an A N A in 1862, and N A in 1863.
He painted in New York City from 1862 to 1870 and also in Newport, R.I., and afterwards established his studio in Paris, France. His first pictures were marines but subsequently he treated genre scenes with success. He also painted children, horses and dogs. Among his principal works are "Chase of the Frigate Constitution," "Waiting for the Fishing Boat," "French Peasant Girl," "Maternal Care," "Heart's Ease," "Land of Nod," "English Grey Hound," "Gathering Seaweed," [and] "Off the French Coast" . . . .
He was descended from Richard Dana who came from England and settled in Cambridge [Massachusetts] in 1640, and was a relative of the celebrated Richard Dana (1699-1772) also of Richard H. Dana. Mr. Dana married Anna Bronson, daughter of Col. James B. Murray of New York in 1855.
He received awards: Third Class Medal at the Paris Exposition 1878, Bronze Medal in 1889. First Prize in Marine Painting, at P.A.F.A. 1881. He lived at the time of his death at #57 Onslow Gardens, London, England. He lived in Europe since 1876.
