A leading folk painter of nautical subjects, Jonathan Orne Frost was born in the whaling and shipping town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. At age 16, he went to sea, but two years later, he opened a restaurant, which he operated for the remainder of his working life.

After his wife died, he became interested in art and sketched a fishing boat off the Grand Banks. From 1923 to 1928, he did over eighty oil paintings, recreating the history of the town from the first settlers in 1625 through the Revolution.

His paintings are filled with activity and a feeling of vibrant life accented by his frenetic lines and bright colors. In 1926, he opened his own gallery but he sold only a few of his works. The exhibitions of his work by the ...