Off Sequin Island, Maine, Maritime Artist Walter Lansil, c. 1900

Walter Franklin Lansil, born in Bangor, Maine, in 1846, was a marine painter of sailing ships, often in Venetian settings. He worked in a style related to that of contemporary French artist Feliz Ziem, who also painted in that Italian city. Lansil studied in Paris, France, in 1880 at the Academie Julian. A long-time resident of Boston, Massachusetts, he exhibited at the Boston Art Club from 1874-1909, becoming a member in 1877. He also showed at the National Academy of Design, New York City, from 1878-1892, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. One of Lansil’s paintings of tall ships is in the collection of the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College.