# Francis Augustus Silva artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francis-augustus-silva/
Profile generated: 2026-05-30T21:19:42.799Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Death date: 1886-03-31
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Luminism, Hudson River School
- Common media: Oil on canvas

## About Francis Augustus Silva

Francis Augustus Silva (1835–1886) was an American painter associated with the Luminist movement and the Hudson River School. Born and based in New York City, Silva developed a reputation for marine scenes along the Atlantic coast, distinguished by his precise handling of atmospheric light and calm, reflective water surfaces. Unlike many of his contemporaries who depicted the same shorelines as leisure destinations, Silva gravitated toward Romantic, contemplative compositions. His paintings of the Hudson River, the New Jersey shore, and coastal New England capture the quiet luminosity that defines the Luminist aesthetic. Collectors encounter Silva's work today through auction houses and American art sales, where his coastal subjects remain his most recognized contributions to nineteenth-century American painting.

## Common works and media

Silva is best known for oil-on-canvas marine paintings depicting Atlantic coastal harbors, shorelines, and river views, especially along the Hudson River and the New Jersey coast. Typical compositions feature calm water, low horizons, and carefully modulated light at dawn or dusk. Titles recorded in authority files include 'The Beach at Long Branch,' 'Boats on the Hudson,' 'By the Seaside, New Jersey Shore,' 'Evening,' and 'The Hudson at the Tappan Zee.' Original oils are the primary medium encountered at auction; no significant print editions or sculptural works are documented in the available sources.

## Market and appraisal context

Silva's paintings appear with regularity in American art auctions, where his marine subjects attract interest from collectors of Hudson River School and Luminist work. Key factors in appraisal include the coastal or river subject matter, the quality of atmospheric light rendering, canvas condition and any conservation history, provenance documentation, and the presence of a legible signature. His surviving output is modest relative to peers in the same movement, which can contribute to variability in auction results. Comparable public auction records for similar marine compositions by Silva and his circle provide useful benchmarks when assessing individual works.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional databases with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Francis Augustus Silva, identity and biographical data are grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD, and Wikidata authority records.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21793148
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Augustus_Silva
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500022143
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/59966762/
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/72585
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2002044349