Landscape of a Southern Marsh – Probably South Carolina
Delancey Gill (1859-1940)
Signed “DE Lancey Gill 1917″
Oil on Panel
24.5” x 32.5” overall
DeLancey Gill was born in Camden South Carolina but lived most of his adult life in Washington or Alexandria, Virginia. He returned to South Carolina often where he frequently painted local scenes. This marshland vista was very likely painted on the South Carolina coast.
Gill was a skilled draftsman and designer working in Washington from 1874 until 1932, first as a draftsman with the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Capitol, then as Director of Illustration for the U.S. Geological Survey and at the Bureau of American Ethnology. He taught at the Corcoran School of Art and the Art Students League. According to his Smithsonian American Art Museum biographical sketch, Gill “did field work with W. H. Holmes, from whom he learned his watercolor technique and practiced photography, both as an illustrative aid and as an independent creative medium. His professional interests no doubt contributed significantly to the clarity and precision of his painting style.”
He died in Alexandria August 31, 1940.
