Frank, attributed to Shapleigh

American (1842-1906)

Frank Shapleigh was a true New England painter. He was born in Boston in the mid 19th century and established a studio there which he held for over forty years. Shapleigh is most famous, however, for his more rural New England paintings, especially those of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, where he had a summer studio. 

Shapleigh originally studied in Boston at the Lowell Institute Drawing School. After joining the Union Army and fighting in the Civil War in 1863, Shapleigh then traveled to Paris between 1866 and 1869 to study with the French landscape painter, Emile Lambinet. Upon his return to Boston, Shapleigh exhibited his works at the Boston Art Club. Today, Shapleigh’s work is held at many museums and galleries around the country including the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. 

Shapleigh was good friends with the popular American landscapists John J. Enneking and Benjamin Champney. The three frequently painted on location throughout New England, all favoring plein air painting.