Known for his marine, history, and portrait paintings, Franklin Briscoe was born in Baltimore, Maryland and at age four moved with his family to Philadelphia where he later became a student of Edward Moran and where eventually he settled his studio.

Briscoe made extended ocean voyages, including trips to Europe where he saw much painting in galleries, and from these adventures and observations developed his landmark paintings of the ocean and ships in all kinds of weather conditions.

In 1885, he painted an historical mural that was in ten panels, a total of 230 feet long, and 13 feet tall--"The Battle of Gettysburg." A depiction of the sequences of the battle, it was exhibited throughout the country, and is now housed in the archives of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Sources:
Michael Zellman, 300 Years of American Art
Peter Hastings Falk (editor), Who Was Who in American Art
additional information courtesy of Randy Ray, Executive Director, Northern Indiana Center for History

Franklin D. Briscoe (American, 1844-1903)

Franklin D. Briscoe is best known for his masterful renderings of marine views. He established a successful painting career and was highly regarded as a competent marine painter during his lifetime. He was a versatile artist whose work included history painting and portraiture as well as seascapes.

Briscoe was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1844. At the age of four his family moved to Philadelphia, where Briscoe he trained with eminent marine artist Thomas Moran (1860) and in Europe. He studied the masters in London, Paris and other continental cities and by the age of 25 was considered a proficient landscape and marine painter. Traveling by ship all over the world many times, Briscoe found many marine subjects during extended voyages. In 1885 he painted a major historical mural The Battle of Gettysburg that measured 13 feet tall x 230 feet long (ten panels).

Briscoe exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Brooklyn Art Association. He remained in Philadelphia throughout his life and died there in 1903.