Wrecked

Franklin D. Briscoe established his artistic reputation with masterful renderings of marine views, such as this striking painting of a group of ships at sea.  The drama of the scene is enhanced by the tumultuous clouds, silvery moonlight, figures aboard a small rowboat, and the choppy sea.

Briscoe was born in Baltimore in 1844.  At the age of four, his family moved to Philadelphia where Briscoe trained with eminent marine artist Thomas Moran.  He traveled to Europe to study the masters in London, Paris and other continental cities and by the age of 25 was considered a proficient landscape and marine painter. He was a versatile artist whose work included history painting and portraiture as well as seascapes.  Traveling by ship all over the world many times on extended voyages, Briscoe found many marine subjects.  In 1885 he painted a major historical mural The Battle of Gettysburg (whereabouts unknown) that measured 13 feet tall x 230 feet long.  Briscoe exhibited regularly at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Brooklyn Art Association.