Francis Augustus Silva

Place: New York City

Born: 1835

Death: 1886

Biography:

Francis Augustus Silva was an American Luminist painter of the Hudson River School. He was born on October 4, 1835, in New York City, and started out as a sign painter in his home city. In 1861, he joined the New York State Militia's Seventh Infantry Regiment and fought in the Civil War, reaching the rank of captain. He was mistakenly dishonorably discharged for desertion, but this was reversed three years later, allowing him to re-enlist and serve as a military hospital steward. In 1867, he married Margaret Watts and opened a painting workshop in New York. During the following years, he participated in several exhibitions of the National Academy of Design. In 1872, he joined the American Society of Watercolorists. In 1876, he traveled to Venice, his only known trip abroad. He died of pneumonia in 1886. Although he did not achieve great fame during his lifetime, his paintings have since received greater recognition, with one of his paintings selling for over half a million dollars. Silva painted landscape paintings in the states of New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. On occasion, he would travel along the Hudson River to find material for his paintings.