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Biography

Born December 13, 1846, at "Levinworth Manor," near Upperville, Va. Served with the Confederate Army, 1863–65. Studied with Thomas Moran at the Pennsylvania Academy of The Fine Arts. In Europe, 1876. Studied with Fitz at the London School of Art, and studied closely the works of Joseph M. W. Turner. Visited Rome, Venice, and Paris. Married Nan Fitzhugh, 1880. Lived in Washington, D.C., 1885–1930. Patronized by Senator and Mrs. John B. Henderson, who established a studio for him in their "Castle." Visited Europe. Was the first artist to hold an exhibition on an ocean liner, 1891. Accompanied a geological survey party to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1901. Visited the Holy Land, Egypt, Italy, 1910. Died September 27, 1930, in Washington, D.C. [J. Edgar Hoover owned more than one dozen of Powell's works.]

Andrew J. Cosentino and Henry H. Glassie The Capital Image: Painters in Washington, 1800–1915 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1983)

Works in the collection by
Lucien W. Powell