William Bradford

William Bradford was born and brought up in Fairhaven, MA. As a young man Bradford was apprenticed in the mercantile business. He became a clerk in his father's dry goods shop in New Bedford but much to his father's dismay, he spent all his free time making sketches and drawings.

He married Mary Breed in 1846 and her father gave the couple a farm to provide their livelihood. The farm failed as Bradford never ceased to work on his art. Bradford began his professional art career by painting ship portraits, which he was able to sell for $25 apiece. New Bedford Harbor in the 1850's offered many whaling vessels as subjects, and owners took pride in having them portrayed in every detail.

In 1854 Bradford had the good fortune to persuade Albert Van Beest to join him at his studio in Fairhaven. Van Beest was a Dutch artist who had recently come to the United States. For three years Van Beest collaborated with Bradford. News accounts and books about recent explorations in the Arctic regions tempted him to travel farther north. In 1861 he obtained the financial backing to outfit a schooner and venture forth to sketch and photograph the coast of Labrador. On this and subsequent voyages, he became fascinated with the special qualities of atmospheric light in Northern regions.

In 1869, with the financial support of his benefactor Le Grand Lockwood, Bradford made a notable expedition to the Arctic on board the steamer Panther. Following this trip, he produced a book titled The Arctic Regions, published in 1873. This photographically illustrated elephant folio volume was published in England under the patronage of British royalty, including Queen Victoria. The artist also received a special painting commission from the queen. The result was a magnificent canvass called The "'Panther' off the Coast of Greenland under the Midnight Sun", now in the royal collection.

When Bradford returned to the United States he began to travel, both for the purpose of giving photographically illustrated lectures about the Arctic and in order to paint the American landscape. He had a studio in San Francisco for seven years and he painted the Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite, and Mariposa Valley. He passed away in New York just before his sixty-ninth birthday.