Artists

Isaac Sprague (September 5, 1811–1895) was a self-taught landscape, botanical, and ornithological painter. He was America's best known botanical illustrator of his day. Sprague was born in Hingham, Massachusetts and apprenticed with his uncle as a carriage painter. In 1843, Sprague served as an assistant to John James Audubon on an ornithological...

Sir James Jebusa Shannon (1862 - 1923), Anglo-American artist, was born in Auburn, New York, and at the age of eight was taken by his parents to Canada. When he was sixteen, he went to England, where he studied at South Kensington, and after three years won the gold medal for figure painting. His portrait of the Hon. Horatia Stopford , one of the...

Otto Stark (1859–1926) was an American Impressionist painter who was considered to be a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana artists. Stark's work most clearly showed the influence of Impressionism, and he often featured children in his work. He began his career as a commercial woodcarver's apprentice in Indianapolis until an ankle injury...

Joseph Steward (1753–1822) was a prominent American artist. Early years Joseph Steward was born on July 6, 1753. He was the son of Joseph and Jane (Wilson) Steward of Upton, Massachusetts. Stewart went to Dartmouth College, graduating in 1780. Joseph Steward continued his studies under the guidance of Reverend Doctor Levi Hart of Preston,...

Julian A. Scott (February 14, 1846 – July 4, 1901), he was born in Johnson, Vermont, and served as a Union Army drummer during the American Civil War where he received America's highest military decoration the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Lee's Mills; he was also an American painter and Civil War artist. Family Julian was the...

William Sonntag was one of the central figures of the Hudson River School. Primarily self-taught, his early landscapes were executed during painting excursions from Cincinnati to the Ohio River Valley and in Kentucky and West Virginia (1856 and 1859). Born in East Liberty, Pennsylvania March 2, 1822, it is believed Sonntag studied for a short period...

The work of James Augustus Suydam, characterized by idealized tranquil landscapes and seascapes illuminated by softly sunlit skies, is emblematic of the American Luminist movement of the nineteenth century. Biography James Augustus Suydam was born on March 27, 1819 in New York City. Suydam’s family was of Dutch decedent, tracing their ancestry...

Jane Stuart was born sometime between 1808 and 1812, the youngest child of artist Gilbert Stuart and his wife, Charlotte Coates. Gilbert Stuart was the famed New England painter of European kings, American presidents, prominent citizens and a particularly well-known depiction of Sir William Grant known as The Skater. Stuart's George Washington...

Nothing but the name, given in the inscription as D. G. Stouter, / Artist, is known about the artist who created the National Gallery's painting, On Point (1980.62.68). However, the source he copied has been identified as an 1854 Gleason's Pictorial article on grouse shooting, which is accompanied by a print almost identical to Stouter's painting....

Joseph Whiting Stock was born on 30 January 1815 in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1826 an oxcart fell on him, paralyzing him from the waist down, and in 1832, on the advice of his physician, he began to study art so that he might make a living. His teacher was Franklin White, a pupil of Chester Harding (1792-1866). In 1834, when Stock was...

William Stearns has not been positively identified, but is believed to have been active circa 1830 to 1840. The name comes from the inscription on the National Gallery's Bowl of Fruit (1953.5.34), which reads PAINTED BY (at lower left) WILLIAM STEARNS (at lower right), and was probably applied with a stamp. There are two other known pictures by...

Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia School of Design. She traveled to Europe and studied in Spain, France and Italy.  Until 1922, she lived primarily in New Hampshire, but then made her permanent home in Princeton, New Jersey.  In 1924, she became a member of the National...

Walter Granville Smith was born in Bellport, New York on January 26, 1870 and he died in Granville, New York in 1938. He was a painter and illustrator who studied with W. Satterlee, C. Beckwith and Willard Metcalf at the Arts Student League in New York City and in Paris at the Academie Julian. He was a member of the American Water Color Society,...

Born in Buxton, Maine, 7 August 1801, the artist was probably named after the Smith family's physician, Dr. Royal Brewster. As the eleventh of fourteen children of John McCurdy and Elizabeth McLellan Smith, Royall successfully survived a childhood of limited financial means and some illness to become a successful artisan. Between 1830 and 1837,...

A traditional American marine artist in ever sense, it is unusual for an artist to exhibit such a high level of quality, which Joseph B. Smith does, and have only two dozen or so known surviving works to his credit. The majority of works were performed in conjunction with his son, William S. Smith; born in 1821. Their partnership appears to have...

Allen Smith, Jr., met with considerable success in the Midwest as a portraitist. He studied briefly with William D. Parisen (1800-1832) while attending the antique classes at the American Academy of Fine Arts in New York. Smith also attended the antique class of the National Academy of Design, where he won a prize in 1833. He exhibited at the...

James David Smillie (January 16, 1833 - September 14, 1909), American artist, was born in New York City. His father, James Smillie (1807-1885), a Scottish engraver, emigrated to New York in 1829, was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1851, did much, with his brother William C. (1813-1908), to develop the engraving of bank-notes, and was an...