Francis Guy (1760-1820) | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

British-born Francis Guy came to the United States in September 1795, after working as a silk dyer in London. He continued that career in New York and in Baltimore until a 1799 fire destroyed his business. His subsequent decision to become a full-time painter was surprising, since Guy had no formal art training. Nevertheless, with the assistance of patrons such as Baltimore's noted early collector Robert Gilmor, who allowed him to copy pictures, Guy developed a charming, distinctive set of views of landmarks around Baltimore, helped both by a collaboration with furniture makers John and Hugh Finlay, who commissioned him to paint small scenes on their wares; and by the popular Exchange Coffee House in Baltimore, which displayed his works as murals for years. Returning to Brooklyn in 1817, Guy mounted his most ambitious exhibition yet, consisting of eighty works at the Shakespeare Club in New York in 1820. Sadly, before the run of the exhibition had finished, Guy died at the age of sixty, on August 12, 1820.

His critical reputation initially faltered with the withering remarks of William Dunlap, the father of American art history, who met Guy in 1806 and dismissively wrote in 1834: "Was originally a tailor of Baltimore. He attracted some attention by his attempts at landscape painting, and finally made it his profession and found employers...His style was crude and harsh, with little to recommend his efforts, which now would not be tolerated." [1] Guy's reputation was given a boost by the elderly Rembrandt Peale, whose 1856 Reminiscences treat Guy kindly. Well-known in Brooklyn for his Brooklyn Snow Piece, an early acquisition by the fledgling Brooklyn Museum of Art, Guy's national reputation began to be rehabilitated in the early 20th century and has steadily grown since then to considerably differ from Dunlap's first assessment. Indeed, he is now highly regarded as one of America's earliest landscape artists.

[1] William Dunlap, History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design of the United States, vol. 2 (1834), 292.

Adapted from

William Rudolph, DMA unpublished material (2008.23.McD), April 2008.

NOTES

This note was routed and Sue made no changes to the draft. I have made minor revisions and am tagging complete 2/23/2017. The GDoc has been moved to Queta's folder for review.

SOURCE= acquisition proposal

b. 1760- near Keswick, England

died- Brooklyn, 12 August 1820

trained- Burton, England- apprenticed as a tailor

worked in- London- (1788-1795) Began as a tailor and then established a silk-dying business

worked in- New York- (1795-1797?)- arrived in NYC from England in September 1795, partnered with John Harmer to establish silk-dyeing firm, but when funding was insufficient, he left for Baltimore in 1797 or 1798.

worked in- Baltimore- (1797-1817) established a silk-dying business until 1799 (business burned); starting 1800 he displayed frescoes at James Bryden's Exchange Coffee House; worked as a furniture painter in the firm of John and Hugh Finlay (1804-1806)

worked in- Brooklyn- (1817-1820)- moved to Brooklyn from baltimore. had studio on Front Street

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General Description

British-born Francis Guy came to the United States in September 1795, after working as a silk dyer in London. He continued that career in New York and in Baltimore until a 1799 fire destroyed his business. His subsequent decision to become a full-time painter was surprising, since Guy had no formal art training. Nevertheless, with the assistance of patrons such as Baltimore's noted early collector Robert Gilmor, who allowed him to copy pictures, Guy developed a charming, distinctive set of views of landmarks around Baltimore, helped both by a collaboration with furniture makers John and Hugh Finlay, who commissioned him to paint small scenes on their wares; and by the popular Exchange Coffee House in Baltimore, which displayed his works as murals for years. Returning to Brooklyn in 1817, Guy mounted his most ambitious exhibition yet, consisting of eighty works at the Shakespeare Club in New York in 1820. Sadly, before the run of the exhibition had finished, Guy died at the age of sixty, on August 12, 1820.

His critical reputation initially faltered with the withering remarks of William Dunlap, the father of American art history, who met Guy in 1806 and dismissively wrote in 1834: "Was originally a tailor of Baltimore. He attracted some attention by his attempts at landscape painting, and finally made it his profession and found employers...His style was crude and harsh, with little to recommend his efforts, which now would not be tolerated." [1] Guy's reputation was given a boost by the elderly Rembrandt Peale, whose 1856 Reminiscences treat Guy kindly. Well-known in Brooklyn for his Brooklyn Snow Piece, an early acquisition by the fledgling Brooklyn Museum of Art, Guy's national reputation began to be rehabilitated in the early 20th century and has steadily grown since then to considerably differ from Dunlap's first assessment. Indeed, he is now highly regarded as one of America's earliest landscape artists.