Alvan Fisher

Alvan Fisher was born in Needham, Massachusetts, and at the age of nineteen began a three-year apprenticeship under John Ritto Penniman the Roxbury section of Boston. In 1825 he traveled to Europe, visiting England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. This study tour provided a marvelous opportunity to see examples of the Old Masters as well as contemporary English and French painting. Upon his return, he set up a studio in Boston, where he became a leading figure in the art community.

As one of America's earliest landscape painters, Fisher is credited with helping to establish the Hudson River School sensibility. From the outset, he painted innovative genre/landscape scenes that depict New England sites. He traveled extensively, seeking out such places of romantic beauty as Niagara Falls, the White Mountains, and the coast of Maine as well as spots that were not yet common destinations for landscape artists.

Fisher was extremely prolific during his fifty-year career. His account books list entries for sales of almost one thousand paintings. He exhibited in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Natchez, and his work was seen by a wide audience. Fisher's art was critically well received and his accomplishments were financially well rewarded.