The Far North: William Bradford Boxed Notecards

William Bradford (American, 1823–1892) was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, across the Acushnet River from the booming whaling port of New Bedford. Though his father attempted to steer him into the dry goods business, young William preferred to be down at the harbor, drawing maritime studies. By his early thirties he had become a full-time artist, turning out commissioned paintings of whaling vessels and merchant ships. Inspired by accounts of the search for lost Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, Bradford decided to go see the far north for himself. Between 1861 and 1867 he made annual voyages along the coasts of northeast Canada and Greenland, painting and photographing the icebergs and rugged shorelines. In the early 1870s he regularly traveled to England, where he lectured on the Arctic, published an illustrated account of his travels—The Arctic Regions (1873)—and had a painting commissioned by Queen Victoria. Bradford’s skill at capturing the far north’s unique light and landscape helped reveal the Arctic’s natural wonders to a wide audience.

The four Bradford paintings reproduced in this notecard assortment are from the collection of the New Bedford Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts.