Arthur Quartley

Arthur Quartley

Arthur Quartley, 1839-1886

• Father: Frederick William Quartley b. 7 August 1808, d. 14 April 1875
• Mother: Mary Ann Folkard b. 17 December 1811, d. circa 3 May 1851

• Arthur Quartley was born on 24 May 1839 in Paris, France.
• Frederick William Quartley and Mary Ann Folkard appeared in the British census of 6/7 June 1841 in Christ Church, Southwark, Surrey, England, at Bennett Street . Other members of the household included Arthur Quartley. Also in the household were children Frederick (age 6), Charles (4) and Ellen (3 months.)
• Frederick William Quartley and Mary Ann Folkard appeared in the British census of 30/31 March 1851 in Christ Church, Southwark, Surrey, England, at 18 Bennett Street. Other members of the household included Arthur Quartley. Also in the household were children Frederick J. (15), Charles (14), Ellen (10), Henry (7), William J. (2) and Mary A. S. (2 months), and one female domestic servant/.
• Arthur Quartley arrived in the United States in March 1852, according to his naturalization record.
• He married Laura Louise Delamater circa 1864.
• Arthur Quartley and Laura Louise Delamater appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Randallstown PO, Baltimore County, Maryland. Other members of the household included Adele Quartley and Grace Vilette Quartley. Also in the household was one female household servant.
• He was a commercial painter, according to the 1870 census.
• Arthur Quartley and Laura Louise Delamater appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1880 in New York City, New York, at 341 West 51st Street. Other members of the household included Adele Quartley, Grace Vilette Quartley, Arthur Lester Quartley and MacDonough Quartley. Also in the household was one female domestic household servant. Both Laura and daughter Adele are identified as "Delmar."
• He was an artist, according to the 1880 census.
• Arthur Quartley became a widower at the 10 February 1881 death of his wife Laura Louise Delamater.
• The following appeared on 12 February 1881 in the New York Herald: [Died] Suddenly, on Thursday February 10, Laura L. Quartley, beloved wife of Arthur Quartley.
       Funeral services will be held on Sunday, 13th, at twelve o'clock, at her late residence, No. 125 Hudson st., Hoboken, N. J.
• He was naturalized on 27 May 1884 at the Court of Common Pleas, New York City, New York, while living at 58 West 57th Street. Witness was Ann Quartley, 328 West 15th Street, New York City.
• The following appeared on 29 May 1884 in the New York Herald: The Folks Who Sailed. The folliowing record of the outgoing passengers contains many names familiar in high social circles and proves beyond any cavil that lots of nice people are going abroad this summer:-- . . . On the Krin . . . Mr. Arthur Quartley, Master Arthur Quartley, Mrs. [sic] Adele Quartley, Miss Grace Quartley, Master Don Quartley. . .
• The following appeared on 6 July 1884 in the New York Herald: [Died] Quartley.--In London, England, on the 19th of June, Don, youngest son of Arthur Quartley, of New York, aged 6 years and 4 months.
• Arthur Quartley died on 19 May 1886 at age 46 in New York.
• The following appeared on 20 May 1886 in the New York Herald: Arthur Quartley, N. A., one of the most distinguished of Aemrican marine painters, died at four o'clock yesterday morning at his residence, No. 52 South Washington square. Though he had been very ill for several months his death was somewhat unexpected. It was thought that he might live for several weeks longer. He died of an affection of the liver, complicated with a severe case of jaundice. Mr. Quartley, who went abroad a couple of years ago, returned last fall in ill health. He was first attacked with the jaundice in Venice. He had only been confined to the house a few months, and was so much improved some six weeks ago that he went down stairs from his bedroom for a few hours. He may be said to have painted almost to the last, for he had an easel in the room he died in, got up and worked for an hour or two, and even painted in bed. The works produced under these conditions are among the best ever produced by the artist, who may truly be said to have died in his artistic prime. They are "The Last Glow, St. Ives, England," and "The English Channel, off Hastings," which were in the just closed National Academy exhibition, and "Near the Mouth of the Thames," in the present Prize Fund Exhibition. At the annual meeting of the Academy on Wednesday of last week, Mr. Quartley, who was made an associate in 1879, was chosen a member by a highly complimentary vote. He was also a member of the Society of American Artists, having been elected in 1881; of the American Water Color Society, of the Artists' Fund Society and of the Tile Club.
       Arthur Quartley was born in Paris, France, on May 24, 1839, and, therefore, would have been forty-seven on Monday next. After a stay in England his parents came to this country, bringing young Arthur, then in his thirteenth year, with them. While a youth he was apprenticed to a sign painter in this city and followed the trade here for several years. He was afterward engaged for some years in the same business in Baltimore. But, like many another artist who began life by painting more or less prosaic signs, Mr. Quartley, who had spent his leisure in art work, finally decided to give up business and devote himself entirely to art; so in 1873 he took a studio in Baltimore and painted coast scenes, gradually working his way into the production of pure marines.
       In 1876 Mr. Quartley moved from Baltimore and set up his studio in this city. Here he painted "Low Tide," the first work to attract any special attention. This work is, or was, owned by Mr. J. B. Thom, of Baltimore. From that time on the artist's progress was remarkably rapid. His vigorous, full blooded and high spirited personality asserted itself in his works, and in ten years from his first advent in this city he became one of the most striking figures in its artistic life and died just as the Natinal Academy had crowned his work with the final laurel it has to give. The works of the dead painter give evidence of the conditions under which his art was born and grew up to a stature equal to that of any of the marine painters in this country. As a colorist Mr. Quartley was superior to any of our marine painters, and in the vigor of his execution he was surpassed by none. It was in his drawing both of water and of ships that he was at his weakest, but the spirit of the scene is always to be found in his works, and he had a fine eye for the picturesque. The craft sail, the wind blows, the clouds pass and the water surges in his canvases. The artist has left behind him a number of views of the city from the river and on the river front which would alone suffice to make his reputation.
       Mr. Quartley's work has been mentioned in connection with both that of Ziem and Clays, certainly two widely divergent personalities. Well, he copied from neither. He may have absorbed from both. And if he did, the same credit for good judgment must be given him that is awarded to the litterateur who shows evidence of the study of good works, or the actor, who looks up to and forms his style on that of those whom he considers the best exponents of his art. There is one thing certain about the work of Arthur Quartley, and that is, that no one will ever mistake it for the work of any one else; and its merits far outbalance its faults.
       When he first came to this city Mr. Quartley had a studio at No. 1,155-1/2 Broadway. For several years after that he had one on the northwest corner of Broadway and Fourteenth street. He afterward moved to the Sherwood Building in Fifty-seventh street. Just before he went abroad for the last time he held a sale at Ortgies' galleries in conjunction with F. Hopkinson Smith, which proved quite successful. This was at the end of April, 1884. Shortly after this Mr. Quartley, who was a widower, went abroad, taking with him his two boys and his two daughters, the elder of whom, Adele, exhibited a "Street in an English Fishing Village" at the just closed Academy exhibition. In London, where the artist established himself, he had the misfortune to lose by death his eldest boy. He visited also Paris, Holland, and, as has been stated, Venice.
       Among Mr. Quartley's paintings are the following exhibits at the National Academy: "Calm Day--Isle of Shoals,” “Isle of Shoals," and "Evening at Narragnansett" (1875). "Low Tide," "The Rivals--Competing Tugboats Offering Service, Chesapeake Bay," and "Afternoon at Starr Island, Isle of Shoals" (1876). "Morning Effect," "North River," "From a North River Pier," "Waiting for the Tide," and "Close of a Stormy Day" (1877). "Squally Day at the Narrows, Staten Island," "An Afternoon in August," "Harmon's Bridge, Baltimore, Md.," and "Morning" (1878). "Becalmed Fishing Boats," "Clearing--Reefs Off Lowell, Mass.," "Market Boats, Norfolk, Va.," "Fisherman's Hut, Captree Island, L. I.," and "Afternoon, Raritan Bay" (1879). "Morning on the Sound," "Trinity from the River"--a noble work, "Squirrel Island," and "Homeward" (1880). "Low Country of North Shore, L. I.," "A Breezy Day, Menhaden Boats," and "An April Day, New York" (1881). "A Morning of Appledore, Isle of Shoals," and "Rugged Maine" (1882). "The Queens's Birthday, Port of New York, May 24" (1883). "Dignity and Impudence" and "Lofty and Lowly" (1884)--the former, somewhat repainted during his last illness, was one of his contributions to the last Artists' Fund display (1884), and "An October Morning, Coast of Maine," "Trawlers off Plymouth, England," and Low Tide, Coast of Cornwall, England" (1885).
       Mr. Quartley contributed to the exhibitions of the Society of American Artists for the first time in 1881. His "Morning Effect, North River," owned by Mr. John Taylor Johnson, was shown at the Paris University Exposition in 1878. Mr. Quartley also exhibited in London. He painted well in water colors, handled the pen and pencil with skill and had tried his hand at etching. 
• The following appeared on 11 July 1984 in the New York Tribune: Don, son of Arthur Quartley, the artist, aged six years, died in England of tubercular meningitis. Mr. Quartley sailed with his family for Europe on May 28, and his son died soon after arriving in England.

• Last Edited: 23 May 2017