An Arctic Summer: Boring Through the Pack in Melville Bay

"We have, as yet, no English pictures like Church's 'Niagara' or his 'Icebergs of Labrador,' Bierstadt's Rocky Mountain views, or those Arctic scenes of Mr. Bradford." — The Times (London), August 1, 1873

"Bradford described an Arctic scene as 'wild, strange, and magnificent; a summer's sun in the distance shone out with the steady gleam of frosted silver.'" — William Bradford, The Arctic Regions (1873)

"My photographs have saved me eight or ten voyages to the Arctic regions, and now I gather my inspirations from my photographic subjects, just as an author gains food from his library." — William Bradford, The Philadelphia Photographer

"We have marked every dash of color which the great Painter in his benevolence vouchsafed to us." — William Bradford, The Arctic Regions (1873)

#1. Painted From the Deck of a Ship. Bradford spent eight voyages in Arctic waters between 1861 and 1869, with a studio set up on the deck of the steamship Panther. An Arctic Summer (1871) is based directly on sketches and photographs made during his 1869 expedition — the Panther itself appears in the painting, pushing through the ice of Melville Bay off the northwest coast of Greenland.

#2. A Landmark in Photography as Well as Painting. Bradford brought two professional photographers on his 1869 expedition — the first time iceberg photography was systematically undertaken in Arctic waters. The resulting images were published in The Arctic Regions (1873), a limited-edition volume of 140 mounted photographs now considered a landmark in the history of the photographically illustrated book.

#3. Queen Victoria Was the Book's First Subscriber. Bradford was received by Queen Victoria after returning from Greenland, and the Queen became the first subscriber to The Arctic Regions. She subsequently commissioned Bradford to paint The Panther off the Coast of Greenland under the Midnight Sun, installed in her library at Windsor Castle.

#4. Now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Measuring 51¾ × 78 inches, An Arctic Summer is one of Bradford's largest and most ambitious canvases. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it stands as the definitive statement of his achievement — an American marine painter who turned the Arctic into a subject of Romantic grandeur.

A balanced work like this fits a study, hallway, or a reading corner. It also works as part of a small gallery wall when paired with restrained companion pieces. Gallery-style interiors with matte black frames and wool rugs suit it especially well. It rewards a quiet wall where its color and brushwork can be read without competition. Give it a quiet wall and let the painting carry the room.

A studio reproducing this work focuses on the color balance and the surface texture. The artist tests color on a separate surface before committing to the canvas. The painter's task is to honor the original's rhythm without trying to copy every mark mechanically. Hand-painted oil on canvas reproduces the surface the original is known for. Each canvas is finished and inspected before it leaves the studio.

The painter sets surface, weather and sky in close working agreement. Light is handled with restraint, modeling rather than dramatizing the forms. Color is built in measured layers rather than declared in single notes. The composition resolves at a distance and continues to give detail closer in. The brushwork is handled to support the composition rather than to call attention to itself. The painter holds value control across the picture rather than relying on local contrast.