About James Hamilton

  • Biography

    Born in Ireland, James Hamilton became a landscape painter and is credited with painting one of the first American seascapes, The Sea at Atlantic City, in 1868. Few of his seascapes have survived, but exhibition records reveal that he did numerous coastal scenes from New York to Maryland.

    He came to the United States, settling with his family in Philadelphia, at age fifteen. His early teachers are unknown, but he had guidance in book and magazine illustration. He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and in addition to painting, gained skill in engraving and etching.

    He was a great admirer of the landscapes of English painter J.M.W. Turner, and became known as the "American Turner" b...

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