Artist Keywords

Thomas Sully

Thomas Sully (1783 - 1872) was active/lived in Pennsylvania / England.  Thomas Sully is known for Portrait, historical, and landscape painting.

A teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Thomas Sully became one of the foremost early 19th-century portrait painters, known for painting pretty faces on his subjects, often disregarding reality.

He was the son of English actors and was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire. He came to Philadelphia in 1792 when he was nine years old. Sully showed early drawing talent and first studied with his older brother, Lawrence, a miniature painter.  To earn money, he tried unsuccessfully to have a career in insurance but then turned full time to painting and was able to be critiqued by Gilbert Stuart in Boston.  He embraced Stuart's interest in classical styles, but favored pretty colors and opaque and glossy surfaces. Like Stuart, his subjects appear heroic and seem to have a sense of purpose.

In 1801, he moved with Lawrence's family to Virginia, but Lawrence died, so Thomas cared for the family and married the widow two years later.  In 1808   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 7304 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 400 auction lots for Thomas Sully (of which 327 auction records sold and 1 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 0 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 11 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Thomas Sully as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Thomas Sully in 1 of its research Essays. Thomas Sully has 17 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for Thomas Sully available:    Rembrandt Peale,  Eastman Johnson,  Gilbert Stuart,  Thomas Doughty,  John Frederick Kensett,  William Louis Sonntag Sr,  Ernest Lawson,  Everett Shinn,  John Henry Twachtman,  Jasper Francis Cropsey,  Childe Hassam,  Francis Augustus Silva,  George Benjamin Luks,  George Inness,  J Alden Weir,  William Trost Richards,  Worthington (Thomas) Whittredge,  William James Glackens,  John Singer Sargent,  Edward Lamson Henry,  Alexander Helwig Wyant,  George Bellows,  Maurice Brazil Prendergast,  Severin Roesen