Height:47 in. (119.38 cm)
Width:27 in. (68.58 cm)
Depth:
Country of Origin:USA
Artist:George Douglas Brewerton (1827-1901)
Condition:Excellent
Year:19th C.

Beautiful pair of antique 19th C. landscape oil on canvas paintings signed G.D. Brewerton. Both paintings are in their original American Victorian frames.

George Douglas Brewerton (1827-1901)

Brewerton was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1827, and spent his childhood moving between several Northeastern cities. The elder Brewerton, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1845 to 1852, enabled his son to study under Robert Weir who was the drawing master at West Point. In addition to his artistic pursuits, Brewerton trained for a military career at West Point, and in 1846 sailed to California as a volunteer with the army. The Mexican-American War erupted in 1847, and Brewerton was sent to Vera Cruz, Mexico in the spring of 1847.

In 1848, Brewerton was ordered to Los Angeles where he made the acquaintance of frontier hero Kit Carson. Brewerton traveled with Carson to Independence, Missouri, and later went on assignments to Fort McIntosh, near Laredo, Texas and Ringgold Barraks near Rio Grande City.

In 1852 Brewerton left the army to pursue a career in journalism. He became a special correspondent for the New York Times and wrote articles for Harper’s Monthly and the New York Herald. Brewerton played an important journalistic role in Kansas in 1854, reporting on events that subsequently led to the Civil War.

Not long after he arrived in Kansas, Brewerton moved to New York where he began exhibiting views and paintings at the National Academy of Design. His exhibited works indicate that he must have traveled extensively in his lifetime. His landscapes depicted locales as varied as the Adirondack, Catskill, and White Mountains, the New England Coast, and various regions in Ireland.During the Civil War, manuals illustrated and written by Brewerton were used widely for the instruction of recruits, and he served on the staff of a militia unit. During 1866 and 1867 he was the pastor of a Baptist Church in Annville, Pennsylvania, but later settled in Brooklyn where he wrote books and poetry. He also illustrated books, including Julian Hawthorne’s History of Washington. Also during this period, Brewerton spent much time in Newport painting marines and landscapes. He continued to travel to New Mexico, Arizona, and California before passing away in Fordham, New York in 1901.