William Gay Sr. Yorke

1817-1893

Canadian (New Brunswick, Canada; Liverpool, England; New York, New York)

William Gay Yorke was born in Canada in 1817 in St. John's, New Brunswick. In 1847, he had a son, William Howard York, whom he taught to paint and with whom he collaborated on ship paintings until 1870 when their relationship soured for unknown reasons. Speculation was that the twenty-two year old artist wanted to go out on his own, rather than work with his father. An oddity in the spelling of Yorke's name developed between 1861 and 1870; he left off the "e". It seems unlikely that this was in any way related to his separation from his son in that latter year. But, in artistic style, the two were very similar, it being difficult to tell one's work from the other. Perhaps it was an attempt by one of the artists, most likely the elder Yorke (the younger was only thirteen years old in 1861) to differentiate himself from the other.