Biografie von Thomas HOPE (1832-1926)

Birth place: Sussex, England

Addresses: Bridgeport, CT (1850s-61); Phila. (c.1866-81); Bridgeport (c.1882-c.1916); Devon, CT (c.1916-26)

Profession: Still life, genre, and landscape painter

Studied: PAFA with George Bensell, c.1866 (grad. 1881, probably because he was also working as a bandmaster during this period)

Exhibited: NAD, 1882

Work: Indep. Nat. Hist. Park, Phila.

Comments: He came to U.S. (Bridgeport, CT) as a young man, and from 1861-65 was a musician in the Union Army during the Civil War with the 17th Conn. Volunteers. He is possibly the same Thomas Hope who was active in Phila., 1841-51. Hope was influenced by the trompe l"úil still lifes of John F. Peto and Wm. Harnett, and may have been a cousin of Peto. Later, he became a bandmaster and teacher at the Philharmonic Soc. in South Norwalk, CT.

Sources: exh. cat., Art in Conn. (Benton Mus., Univ. Conn, 1992); 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1, 253 (says he came to the U.S. in 1864, not the 1850s. Also states he exhibited at the NAD in 1882, but there is no record of this in Cowdrey)