William G. Muller (Born 1937) American, Hudson River Maritime Oil on Canvas. Nautical painting depicting some of his favorite subjects: the iconic looming Hook Mountain just north of the modern Tappan Zee Bridge, with a beached vessel in the foreground and a steamship (likely the Hudson River Day Line ship the Alexander Hamilton). Signed lower right. Writing on the back of the stretcher in pen reads "Hudson River from Hastings, N.Y. 6/73 W.G. Muller." (meaning Hastings-on-Hudson, as the town of Hastings is nowhere near the Hudson River) Label from Andrew Ford Fine Art attached to the back of the gilt frame. 

Overall Size: 16 x 18 in. 

Sight Size: 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. 

William “Bill” G. Muller was born in a small town along the Hudson River in New York in 1937, enamored from a young age with the surviving old-time vessels that still traversed the waterways, particularly the steamships. While still a teen he served as Quartermaster on the last of the coal-fired Hudson River Day Line vessels, the Alexander Hamilton, and attended the Pratt Institute in the late 1950s, particularly drawn to maritime painting. After graduating he studied further at the New York School of Visual Art and the Art Students League, where his maritime art got him work with an advertising firm for over fifteen years. His love of boats and the water never diminished, and in 1978 he became the Founding Director and later Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists. He helped found the Hudson River Maritime Center Museum in 1980 and left commercial work to pursue maritime art full time, elected a member of the Society of American Historical Artists as well as an advisor to the National Maritime Historical Society. In the early 2000s he settled in Rondout, where he continues to paint, considered one of the best modern artists to rediscover and portray maritime scenes from past centuries. His work has been published in American Heritage, Business Week, Yachting, Yankee, Sea History, Art Today, U.S. Art, and on numerous book covers, and can be found in dozens of marine museums as well as many private and corporate collections.

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