Willard Leroy Metcalf
(1858-1925)

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William Leroy Metcalf was an American painter born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Metcalf moved to Boston as a young adult to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Metcalf excelled as a student and decided to continue his education at the Academie Julian in Paris. In Paris Metcalf worked with Gustave Boulanger and Jules- Joseph Lefebvre, making trips around Europe. Metcalf was the first American artist to visit Giverny, and made inspirational trips to Algeria and Tunisia.

Metcalf eventually settled in New York where he worked as an illustrator and landscape painter. Metcalf befriended prominent figures in the art scene and became part of a group called the Ten American Painters, who broke away from the Society of American Artists. Metcalf did most of his paintings in oil, but was also a proficient watercolor artist. In 1893 Metcalf joined the American Watercolor Society.

Metcalf taught painting for many years at varying institutions around New York including the Woman’s Art School, Cooper Union and the Art Students League.

When Metcalf was not in New York, he would take painting trips around New England. Metcalf frequented a Connecticut artists’ colony in Old Lyme where he painted a large body of landscape paintings.

Metcalf’s work is now in major museums in Washington D.C. and New York. Metcalf’s work has inspired American landscape painters for generations. Do you think you own a painting by Willard Leroy Metcalf? Contact us. We are the Willard Leroy Metcalf experts.