Georges William Thornley

Georges William Thornley (2 May 1857 – 31 August 1935) was a French painter and printmaker.

Life A student of the French landscape painter Eugène Cicéri and Edmond Yon, Thornley became a successful artist remembered for his seascapes from Normandy and his landscapes from the French and Italian Rivieras. He was the son of a Welsh immigrant Morgan Thornley.

He also was a talented watercolorist, engraver, and lithographer. His lithographs after the works of Corot, Pissarro, Degas and Puvis de Chavannes were acclaimed by his peers and awarded at the Salon de Paris.

His paintings were exhibited beginning in 1878. He won the Mention of Honor in 1881 and a Third Class medal in 1888. Thornley embraced the Impressionist movement early in his career, which brought him much success.

His work is characterized by bold brushwork and thick impasto. It conveys the “impression of a panorama,” capturing fleeting moments through light and color. This open landscape demonstrates the artist’s ability to produce decorative color effects that remain true to nature.