Arthur Quartley

American (1839-1886)

Arthur Quartley (1839-1886) was born in Paris, France and spent much of his childhood in Europe, eventually moving to Peekskill, New York in the late 1840s or 50s. He studied painting with his father, who was an artist and decorator, and subsequently took an apprenticeship under a sign maker in New York City and began his artistic career as an engraver and sign maker. Quartley joined an interior decorating firm in Baltimore and later established his own firm in the 1870s. In 1876, he left the business to focus entirely on painting at his studio in New York City, a decision that led to his reputation as one of the leading marine painters of the day. Throughout his career, Quartley frequented the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire and joined a growing colony of professional artists at Cold Spring on Long Island in New York. His coastal landscapes and marine paintings of these places earned him membership in the National Academy and were included in exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Boston Art Club as well as shows in London and Paris.