Granville Perkins

1830-1895

American (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Granville Perkins was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He began his painting career at a young age, reportedly painting scenery for a theatrical company known as the Ravel family. During his twenties, Perkins was greatly influenced by the paintings of artist Frederic Edwin Church, and followed Church’s inclination for traveling and voyaged to “exotic” locales such as Cuba, Jamaica and Central America. Perkins’s later compositions frequently referenced his experiences in these foreign countries.

Following his travels, Perkins relocated to the city of Philadelphia where he was instructed in the finer points of drawing by the famous marine and landscape artist, James Hamilton. Perkins’s studies proved a success as he was soon employed by both Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper as an illustrator.