Alfred Thompson Bricher (American, 1837-1908) , "Rocky Shores", oil on canvas, signed lower right, 38 in. x 28 in., framed with artist and title plaque . Provenance: Estate of Houston H. and Carolyn H. Harte, San Antonio, TX. Note: Master of the seascape, Alfred Thompson Bricher spent his career traveling the coast of New England and Canada and the length of the Mississippi, capturing the banks of the mighty river and the shores of the Atlantic in exquisite detail. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the son of British immigrants, and his youth was spent in Newburyport, Massachusetts. During later years in Boston, he became familiar with the art of the Hudson River School and was specifically inspired by the work of the Luminists. Largely self-taught, Bricher was meticulously attentive to details and the atmospheric effects of sunlight. He emphasized the transcendent beauty of nature in his works, painting scenes that are both naturalistic and sublime. Bricher is best known for his views of deserted shorelines edged with dramatic rocky outcroppings, such as the scene offered here, with perfectly captured foam-capped cresting waves, tiny seagulls and distant sailboats silhouetted against the horizon.