A Life Between New England and North Africa
Marcus Waterman was born in Providence, Rhode Island, into a family of six children. As the eldest, he grew up in a New England household alongside his parents, William Henry and Martha Burrill Pearce Waterman. After graduating from Brown University in 1857, he moved to New York City. For twenty years, he maintained a studio within the New York University building, establishing himself as a painter of landscapes and Orientalist subjects. While some believed he was entirely self-taught, others suggested he may have been influenced by figures such as Thomas Hill or William Morris Hunt.
His early career was marked by a deep connection to American scenery. He spent time sketching along the Massachusetts coast and later focused on the beaches of Cape Cod and the mountains of Vermont. In 1874, he joined a group of painters for a sketching trip along the coast, an experience that eventually led him to resettle in Boston. There, he lived and worked in studios on Washington Street and Hamilton Place for many years.
The Light of Algiers
Travel changed the direction of his work. During the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, Waterman traveled to the Netherlands, France, and southern Spain. However, it was North Africa that left the deepest impression on him. He first visited Algiers in 1879 and returned between 1884 and 1886. He once remarked that for the first time in his life, he felt at home while in Algiers.
This period brought a new range of subjects to his canvas. He began painting scenes of the Kasbah in Tangier, camels on the road to Fez, and street scenes featuring women and children in Algeria. His work from this era often focused on:
- Arab horsemen and desert landscapes
- The architecture of mosques, such as the Mosque de Sidi Abdel Rahman
- Figures in village roads and courtyard scenes
A Shared Life and Final Years
In Boston, Waterman formed a lifelong bond with Marietta Ambrosi. She was an Italian language teacher and artist's model who had immigrated to Boston from Rovereto. Their relationship lasted many years before they finally married in 1908. She served as a model for several of his works, including Portrait of the Artist’s Wife and Spanish Toreador.
The end of his career was marked by a sudden change in spirit. In 1909, after attending an exhibition by Joaquín Sorolla, Waterman felt a profound sense of dissatisfaction with his own progress in painting. He reportedly closed his paintbox and never opened it again, destroying much of his work. Seeking a quiet life, he and Marietta retired to Lake Garda, Italy. He died in Maderno, Italy, on 2 April 1914. He was cremated and placed in the Cimitero Vantiniano in Brescia, where his wife was later interred beside him.
