Thomas Chambers, American (1808-1866) was born in England, migrating to New York City in 1832. He lived in Boston from 1843 to 1851, then Albany from 1852 to 1857. He spent his last years in New York City. Chambers was without doubt self-taught, and is classed variously as a naïve painter or folk artist?. In later life he described himself as a marine artist, but is also well-known for his landscapes and is known to have painted portraits. Chambers is best-known for his rhythmic, bold colorful style, better suited to maritime scenes than the subtleties of landscape. He often did not sign or date his works and has been described as enigmatic, a euphemism for a lack of documentary information. This dearth of evidence is what one would expect of a naïve artist who was not in any sense part of the academic art establishment.

Generally speaking, Chambers is classed as a Hudson River School artist, as many of his landscapes were aimed at the burgeoning market in Romantic yet convenient wilderness/agricultural views of the mid-19th century.

Note that Chambers is often confused with his namesake Thomas Chambers, a professionally-trained English genre painter who flourished 1849-1858. Their styles have absolutely nothing in common.

Are you still wondering about a painting in your collection Contact usit could be by Thomas Chambers.