Julian O. Davidson was born on December 17, 1853, to Matthias and Harriet (nee Standish) Davidson. His father was a civil engineer who, while Julian was “still a boy” was tasked to oversee the construction of the Havana Railroad. Julian made five trips to Cuba with his father and, on the final trip, the ship they were sailing on became shipwrecked in a severe storm. Rather than frighten Julian off of the water for good, he became infatuated with it.

As a teen, Davidson was sent to the Rectory School in Hamden, Connecticut - a college preparatory school modeled after a military academy. The curricula included military drill, Latin, math, science, literature, drawing, political history, and military history. At 16, when Davidson graduated, he became an apprentice in his father’s firm as a surveyor and draughtsman. Davidson’s eye was to the sea, however, and preferred to devote his time sketching ships coming and going out of New York Harbor.

With a burning desire to leave New York for life on the sea, Davidson “ran away” and joined the crew of SS Arizona - a sidewheel steamer that made voyages to the Far East via the Suez Canal. It is during his time aboard Arizona that his nautical eye began to come into focus. As Loren Bloom, of Maritime Collectors puts it, Davidson “[assisted] the engineer, ship's boy, and storekeeper”, returning home “with paintings and journals filled with sketches of sails, rigging, sailing ships, and water.” Rather than continue in his apprenticeship in the family business, Davidson moved into an apartment in Manhattan where he devoted two years studying under the watchful eye of famed Dutch artist, Mauritz de Haas. It is with de Haas that Davidson met fellow artists, Winslow Homer, Frederick Church, William Bradford, Albert Bierstadt, and Stanford R. Gifford.

For Davidson, he was often found visiting Nyack-on-the-Hudson, a place known for its shipbuilding industry. It is here that he met Cornelia Merritt. In 1877, the pair were married. Cornelia gave birth to a child who passed away shortly after birth. The couple built a “large home with expansive views on the Hudson River”. Julian and Cornelia were active in the Nyack Rowing Association and purchased a steam-powered launch named Princess.

Davidson was a prolific maritime artist, some critics even going as far as to describe him as one of the nineteenth century’s, “premier naval artists”. While many of his subject events occurred decades prior to his depictions, it is not known how he was able to research for his artwork. He was known to spend a great deal of time, often more than a year to research - this is true of his interpretation for The Battle of Lake Erie.

Unfortunately, his life was cut short when he developed strep throat - the virus ultimately damaged his kidneys. On April 30, 1894, at the age of 41, he passed away due to congestive heart failure. His burial route took him from Nyack to Yonkers, across the Hudson on a side-wheel steamer to Woodlawn Cemetery in Fordham, New York. He was buried next to his infant son.