The Soul of the New England Coast: The Life and Legacy of Robert Swain Gifford In the annals of American landscape painting, few names evoke the salt-sprayed majesty and serene atmospheric beauty of the Atlantic coast as poignantly as Robert Swain Gifford. Born in 1840 on the windswept Naushon Island within the Elizabeth Islands, Gifford’s very origins were steeped in the maritime atmosphere that would later define his greatest masterpieces. His early years, marked by a move to the bustling New Bedford area, provided him with a front-row seat to the grandeur of seafaring life. It was here, d…