Anson Dickinson, a painter of miniature portraits, was born in Milton, Connecticut, in 1779. He was the eldest of ten children born to Oliver Dickinson Junior (1757-1847) and Anna Landon Dickinson (1760-1849). As a boy, Anson Dickinson was apprenticed to Litchfield silversmith Isaac Thompson. Little else is known about his early art training. He first...

Jurgan Frederick Huge was born in Hamburg in 1809. Of the approximately fifty known examples of his work, most are renderings of sailing and steam vessels, which recall the artist's youth as a seaman. Huge (at that time spelling his given names Jurgen Friedrich) came to America as a young man. By 1830 he was established as the owner of a store in...

Painter. Born in Baltimore, MD on Jan. 21, 1864. When Elmer was quite young, the Wachtel family moved to Lanark, IL where he worked as a hired hand and taught himself to play the violin. At age 18, he moved to San Gabriel, CA where his brother had married the sister of artist Guy Rose and was managing the large Rose ranch. He continued playing...

The National Gallery's painting Fruit and Baltimore Oriole (1980.62.47) was inscribed on the reverse Painted by Wagguno, 1858, but the inscription is no longer visible. It is recorded on the accession sheet of the donors (E. W. and B. C. Garbisch), but no photographs are known. No information on the artist has been discovered to date. [This is an...

A little-known artist of the 19th century, Frank Waller was born June 12, 1842 in New York City. He was a painter, educator, and etcher who lived in Morristown, New Jersey during the latter part of his life. At 15 years of age, Waller studied drawing at the Free Academy of the City of New York, now known as the City College of New York, which he...

William Allen Wall was born to a prominent Quaker family of New Bedford. His father was the master of a Quaker school, ran a hardware store, and promoted cultural activities in the city. Wall seems to have inherited from his father an appreciation of art and may have received instruction from him in watercolor and pencil technique. His father...