In 1925 Antonio Martino's painting instructor wrote a note of congratulations to his talented student who, at the age of twenty-three, had two paintings accepted in the Pennsylvania Academy for the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition. The teacher was pleased that his student's work was being shown with the nation's outstanding painters. Besides, Martino's landscapes bore sold signs. . . he was urged to continue painting, which he did for the next fifty years. Antonio Martino's work is a prominent example of the long tradition of realistic painting and instruction in Philadelphia.

The instructor who wrote the congratulatory letter was Albert Jean Adolphe, a student of Jean Leon Gerome in Paris, as was Thomas Eakins. In addition to this stron...