Marine (Isles of Shoals)

Born in Philadelphia to artists Russell and Mary (Wilson) Smith, Xanthus Smith began his artistic training under his parents, accompanying them on a European tour from 1851 to 1852, and sketching with his father in central Pennsylvania and the Allegheny Mountains. He later studied chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School from 1856 until 1858, but decided to pursue a formal arts education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Royal Academy in London.

Shorelines and seascapes were among his favorite subjects. This large composition depicts the rocky shoreline of what may be the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire.