‘The Sagebrush Rembrandt’

He hailed from West Virginia, received most of his training in Europe, and lived most of his life in New York City. But William R. Leigh is best known for his portrayals of the West – a region he didn’t explore until he was about 40 years old. Eventually, however, his became so connected with the West that he was dubbed the “Sagebrush Rembrandt.”

Leigh was born September 23, 1866, to a family whose once-valuable estate had just been destroyed by Civil War-related carnage and looting. He claimed to have descended from both Sir Walter Raleigh and Pocahontas. Though those claims were fanciful, his family tree did contain prominent local citizens.

Young Leigh did succeed, however, in bonding with animals, and he began to draw portraits of them. His mother supported those pursuits, but other family members were less than enthusiastic. His first big break came, when he was 14, and relatives, who were visiting from Baltimore, told Leigh’s parents about artistic training that was offered at the Maryland Institute in that city, and he studied at the school for three years.