Perhaps the one and only expedition sponsored by an art collector, William Bradford sailed to Greenland in 1869, and based the rest of career on its images.
Arctic
Official artist to an expedition to Spitzbergen, he drew crowds at the Paris Salon of 1841 with his paintings of walrus fishing and the aurora.
He started sailing to Labrador and Greenland, and became a passionate painter of the Arctic coast and seas. One work was commissioned by Queen Victoria.
Like no other place on earth, it has volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls, and steppe. Here are some of the earliest and best paintings of this remarkable land.