Walter Launt Palmer

Walter Launt Palmer (1854, Albany, New York – 1932, Albany, New York) was an American Impressionist painter. Palmer's father Erastus Dow Palmer was a prominent sculptor, and their Palmer residence was frequented by his father's friends, notably landscape painter Frederick E. Church.^[1] Palmer began his formal artistic training under Charles Loring Elliott, but it was Church who trained Palmer in landscape painting.^[2]

In 1873, Palmer made one of many trips abroad in order to work with Carolus-Duran. It was at this time that he met one of Carolus-Duran’s other young students, John Singer Sargent. The artist continued to take frequent and lengthy trips to Europe, and acquired a growing interest in French Impressionism as well as an enduring attraction to Venetian subjects.^[3] When Palmer returned to the United States, he spent most of his time in Albany, where artists like William and James Hart, Homer Dodge Martin, and Edward Gay also painted. He also spent some time working out of New York City at the Tenth Street Studio Building.

Palmer's most notable works are winter landscape scenes, a tradition he carried throughout his career. Exhibitions featuring Palmer's work have included Hawthorne Fine Art's A Perfect Solitude: The Art of Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932) (December 12, 2006 – February 10, 2007).