Maitland Armstrong

[4] He was the youngest of four sons of Edward Armstrong (1800–1840), a prominent local farmer, and his wife, Sarah Hartley Ward (1801–1853) of Charleston, South Carolina.

[5] Edward Armstrong added to the land already acquired by his father, until eventually he owned farms extending along a nearly two mile frontage of the Hudson River, and built a substantial house, the Edward Armstrong Mansion, now demolished, but with its huge Ionic columns on display in the grounds of the Storm King Art Center.

[7][9] In the autumn of 1858, Maitland Armstrong sailed to Italy, arriving just before the new year, where he spent months touring the country and making illustrations of the scenery and ancient monuments.

[2] Armstrong's duties required him to make the acquaintance of as many Americans in Rome as possible, which he undertook with enthusiasm.

He had a great deal of difficulty negotiating which pictures were to be shown, as the committee making recommendations preferred only well-established artists, and Armstrong wished to include young and less-established painters such as Winslow Homer and John La Farge.

[18] Armstrong was one of the foremost exponents of American-style opalescent stained glass during the American Renaissance or Gilded Age.

One of his professors at college upbraided him for choosing to paint a copy of a Venus Rising From The Sea rather than studying William Whewell's Elements of Morality as he should have done.

David Maitland Armstrong
David Maitland Armstrong c. 1846
Armstrong and wife Helen in Rome, wearing 15th-century style "fancy dress"
Stained-glass window at Faith Chapel , titled The Adoration of the Christ Child
The Armstrong family c. 1910s. Front row, left to right: D. Maitland, Helen Maitland, Hamilton Fish, and Margaret Neilson Armstrong. Standing, left to right: Noel, Helena, Marion, Edward Maitland, Maud Gwendolyn King (Edward's wife).