CLONNEY, James Goodwyn - b. 1812 Liverpool, d. 1867 Binghamton, N.Y.

American painter. Although British by birth, he is considered to be one of the great American painters since he went to the United States at a very early age and spent the rest of his life there. He was one of the first generation of American genre painters.

Clonney’s earliest datable work includes two lithographs of urban views and images of birds and animals published in New York between 1830 and 1835. He studied at the National Academy of Design, New York, and exhibited there periodically between 1834 and 1852, specializing in landscape themes, portraits and genre pictures.

The first genre painting he exhibited at the National Academy was Militia Training (1841; Philadelphia, Academy of Fine Arts), although another example, In the Woodshed (1838; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts), predates it. He also exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1845 and 1847) and at the Apollo Association and American Art-Union (1841-50).

Fishing Party on Long Island Sound off New Rochelle

Like Cole, Clonney came from a British family which emigrated to the New World in search of the opportunities which it offered. He was also one of the artists to develop a new and truly American style of art, reflecting the interests and reality of a people who at this time were acquiring their national identity. While Cole began the genre of American landscape, Clonney paved the way for genre painting. The present work is a good example of this type of painting, which aims to reflect the peaceful everyday life of the East Coast in a direct way.