Thomas Birch, On a Rocky Coast

Thomas Birch was a painter of great renown who specialized in marine subjects, portraits of ships, depictions of boats battling a tempestuous sea, and violent storms on rocky coasts. Born in England, he was brought to Philadelphia by his father, William Russell Birch, a skilled enamel painter and printmaker. Birch went on to become one of the first Americans to concentrate on marine-style painting. He was active at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts and exhibited widely in the United States.