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William S. Haseltine
The Coast of Sicily, 1880
William Haseltine came to prominence in the mid-19th century as an accomplished landscapist following his training in Dusseldorf and settled in Rome's Anglo-American art colony in 1869. In addition to an abiding interest in crisply detailed vistas, he strove to capture the intense Italian sunlight in his art. Attempting to define Haseltine's approach, one critic wrote, "we find three elements in the character of Haseltine's paintings: Anglo-Saxon precision, French love of atmosphere and light, and German romanticism."
After the artist's death, his daughter, Helen Haseltine Plowden, donated this radiant Sicilian view to VMFA. His son Herbert Haseltine, who became a significant artist in his own right, produced appealing animal sculptures -- several of which are featured in the museum's Paul Mellon Galleries. |