William Moore Davis

William Moore Davis (1829 - 1920) was an American painter best known for his landscapes. A native of Long Island, he spent most of his life near Port Jefferson and has been praised as the greatest painter of that village. A contemporary of the Hudson River School, he was greatly influenced by fellow local painter William Sidney Mount.

Biography William Moore Davis was born in Setauket, Long Island, New York, on May 22, 1829. As a boy, Davis worked in the shipbuilding industry of Port Jefferson before turning to painting full-time. Aside from a handful of years living in New York City, Moore spent his entire life in the Northwestern Brookhaven area of Long Island. He was strongly influenced by his friend and fellow painter William Sidney Mount, also of Setauket origins. Moore died on March 26, 1920, and was buried in the Sea View Cemetery in Mount Sinai, NY.

In 2020 the Long Island Museum held an exhibition entitled A Century After: The Work of William M. Davis.

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