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Robert Salmon

British

(1775- c.1845)

 

Robert Salmon was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England. Little is known of him before 1828 when for unknown reasons, he emigrated to America.  For thirteen years he maintained a studio at the bottom of Hanover Street in Boston, Massachusetts and lived in a small hut among the wharves. He was enormously popular and his work reflected the years when the harbor was booming with growth. His paintings were highly sought after by collectors including prominent Bostonians Samuel Cabot, Robert Forbes, and J.P. Cushing.

 

Robert Salmon’s paintings reflect the atmospheric qualities of 17th Century Dutch genre painting. He is credited as the founder of American Luminism and was highly influential on American art.

 

About 1840 his eyesight began to fail and he left Boston for his native England where he is thought to have passed away sometime around 1845.

 

Today his paintings can be found in many major museum and private collections throughout the world.