A signed oil on canvas of a clipper ship and a two masted boat by British artist, William Halsall. The work is executed in soft brushstrokes of greens, blues and browns. Marine painter William Formby Halsall was born in Kirkdale, England, in 1841. He was educated in Boston, then worked as a sailor for seven years from 1852-1859. His study of fresco painting in 1860 with William E. Norton, of Boston, was interrupted by the Civil War and his enlistment in the United States Navy.Following two years service, he resumed fresco work, but soon changed to marine painting, which he studied for eight years, from 1862-1870, at the Lowell Institute, in Boston. Among his works are several versions of the Mayflower, "Chasing a Blockade Runner in a Fog," "Rendezvous of the Fishermen," "Arrival of the Winthrop Colony," and "Niagara Falls." His "First Battle of the Ironclads" was purchased by the United States government in 1887, and now hangs in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Well-known art publisher, Louis Prang, published, in 1885, a color lithograph of Halsall's "The Finish", the conclusion of a race of sailing ships.He exhibited often in Boston venues, as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, in 1884-1885, and the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, in 1896. Bio Courtesy of AskArtSite: 21.5 x 29.5 H 26.75 W 34.5 D 1.5 Weight 3 lbs