The painting that made William Tasker famous is Lord Westminster's Cardinal Puff, with Sam Darling Up, Winning the Tradesman's Plate, Chester (1839); it hangs in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. The Liverpool and National Steeplechase at Aintree, 1843 (1843) and National Defense (1921) follow it in the hearts of collectors and museum visitors. Of the 3 works by William Tasker in our catalogue, these 3 are the most admired, each presented with its date, its museum and what sets it apart.
Ranked by our popularity score, which combines the searches, visits and orders for each work. Updated November 2026.
The 2 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by William Tasker | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Yale Center for British Art |
New Haven | 2 | Lord Westminster's Cardinal Puff, with Sam Darling Up, Winning the Tradesman's Plate, Chester, The Liverpool and National Steeplechase at Aintree, 1843 |
 Metropolitan Museum of Art |
New York | 1 | National Defense |
Lord Westminster's Cardinal Puff, with Sam Darling Up, Winning the Tradesman's Plate, Chester (1839), Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. Next come The Liverpool and National Steeplechase at Aintree, 1843 (1843) and National Defense (1921).
Our catalogue lists 3 works by William Tasker, dated from 1839 to 1921.
Most of them are in Yale Center for British Art (New Haven) and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). The table above lists the museums one by one.
The earliest on this page is Lord Westminster's Cardinal Puff, with Sam Darling Up, Winning the Tradesman's Plate, Chester (1839), the latest National Defense (1921).
Lord Westminster's Cardinal Puff, with Sam Darling Up, Winning the Tradesman's Plate, Chester and The Liverpool and National Steeplechase at Aintree, 1843 are among the 2 works on this page held by the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.
Born in New York City, William Tasker spent his life observing the way light settles upon the land. His brushwork followed the shifts of the Impressionist movement, focusing on the fleeting qualities of color and the atmosphere of the American landscape. He did not merely paint scenes; he captured the way light moves through a space, often working with oil on canvas to build texture and depth. His hands were accustomed to the quiet work of capturing the ephemeral, turning a specific moment in time into a permanent record of light and shadow.
His career was marked by a steady presence in the American art scene. He was part of a generation that helped bring new ways of seeing to the United States, participating in significant exhibitions that changed how people viewed local scenery. His work moved through the galleries of his time, finding its way into permanent collections where his specific handling of color remains visible.
Tasker’s work captures the energy of specific moments, often focusing on the relationship between a subject and its surroundings. His paintings move between the quietude of the landscape and the structured motion of life. His oil on canvas works include:
In National Defense, there is a sense of weight and purpose. The paint carries a certain gravity, moving away from purely decorative scenes toward something more substantial. He had a way of grounding his subjects within a tangible reality, using color and light to define the space they occupy. His presence in the 1913 Armory Show helped bring these Impressionist sensibilities to a wider American audience.
By the time of his death in 1933, Tasker had left behind a body of work that speaks to the evolution of American painting. His involvement in the Armory Show of 1913 placed him at the center of a major shift in artistic thought. He was there when the old ways of seeing were being challenged by new, more experimental approaches. His paintings remain in places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the brushstrokes still hold the light he once sought to capture. He remains a figure of the Impressionist movement, remembered for how he translated the atmosphere of his surroundings onto the canvas.