HOWARD RUSSELL BUTLER American, 1856-1934 Moonrise Over the Rocky Coast Oil on canvas Signed lower left. A small oil on panel depicting a dramatic nocturnal coastal scene with a glowing moon breaking through a dusky mauve sky above a luminous sea, dark rocky cliffs looming to the right, rendered with thickly textured, expressive brushwork in the Romantic tradition, presented in a walnut and gilt beaded frame. 6 x 9 inches; frame: 8.75 x 11.5 inches $400-600
ARTIST PROFILE: Howard Russell Butler (1856–1934) was an American painter best known for his seascapes and his remarkably accurate paintings of solar eclipses. Before turning to art, Butler earned one of Princeton University's first Bachelor of Science degrees in 1876 and later a law degree from Columbia University in 1882, practicing patent law for a few years before giving it up in 1884 to study painting under Frederic Edwin Church. He went on to study in Paris and painted alongside artists' colonies in Concarneau and St. Ives, keeping company with fellow American painter John Singer Sargent. Butler became a founder of the American Fine Arts Society and served as vice-president of the National Academy of Design. Drawing on his scientific training, he joined the 1918 U.S. Naval Observatory expedition to paint a total solar eclipse, developing a shorthand method for capturing color and form in the brief moments of totality, and went on to paint the eclipses of 1923, 1925, and 1932. His works today hang in institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History.
