Sailing at Sunset

This is a dramatic Seascape at sunset by American Artist William Formby Halsall (1841-1919) This oil on canvas painting created circa 1870 has a canvas size of 14X24 inches and comes in a deep period gilt frame. The painting is signed in red lower left corner. Halsall was educated in Boston, Massachusetts and worked as a sailor for seven years from 1852 to 1859. In 1860, he had begun to study fresco painting but due to the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted in the United States Navy. He resumed his fresco study after two years of service. In 1862, Halsall changed to marine painting and studied at the Lowell Institute in Boston until 1870.[1] Halsall was also a founding member of the Provincetown Art Association in 1914. This is a wonderful tonalist expression of the Sea at sunset with the sailboats coming into port.