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From colonial Boston to the Missouri

Early American Painting

Painting in North America from the colonial portraitists of the 1740s to the farm and village scenes of the 1800s. Copley’s little Elizabeth Greenleaf in white satin with her roses and her brother John with his lamb, Stuart’s George Washington, Bingham’s fur traders drifting down the Missouri in a golden haze, Mount’s cider press and his raffle for a goose, Edmonds’s farmers plucking turkeys for Christmas in the snow, and Hicks’s Niagara inside a frame of painted verse.

As a puzzle

Two kinds of picture build here. The farm and village scenes are generous: the cider press under a blue sky, the snow behind the turkey pluckers and Spencer’s yellow skirt give you plenty to hold on to, and they take a high count well. The portraits are faces and lace against dark brown grounds, so begin with the face and the bright cloth, leave the background for last, and keep the count moderate.

A good size here: 50–200 pieces.

Painters here: John Singleton CopleyGilbert Stuart

Subjects here: PortraitsEveryday LifeChildrenInteriors

31 pictures, pick one to build

Fur Traders Descending the Missouri George Caleb Bingham, 1845 The Return of Neptune John Singleton Copley, ca. 1754 John Shaw Gilbert Stuart, 1793 Master Rees Goring Thomas Attributed to Ralph Earl, ca. 1783–84 Mary Sylvester Joseph Blackburn, 1754 Tench Francis Robert Feke, 1746 James Badger Joseph Badger, 1760 John A. Sidell John Vanderlyn, ca. 1830 Mrs. Gabriel Manigault Jeremiah Theus, 1757 Preparing for Christmas (Plucking Turkeys) Francis William Edmonds, 1851 Young Husband: First Marketing Lilly Martin Spencer, 1854 The Falls of Niagara Edward Hicks, ca. 1825 Elizabeth Green (Mrs. Ebenezer Storer II) John Singleton Copley, ca. 1767 Cider Making William Sidney Mount, 1840–41 The New Bonnet Francis William Edmonds, 1858 Conversation Piece Lilly Martin Spencer, ca. 1851–52 The Vigilant Stuyvesant's Wall Street Gate John Quidor, 1863 Ebenezer Storer II John Singleton Copley, ca. 1767 George Washington Gilbert Stuart, begun 1795 Long Island Farmhouses William Sidney Mount, 1862–63 Corn Husking at Nantucket Eastman Johnson, ca. 1875 John Greenleaf John Singleton Copley, 1753–54 The Raffle (Raffling for the Goose) William Sidney Mount, 1837 Mrs. John Winthrop John Singleton Copley, 1773 Josef de Jaudenes y Nebot Gilbert Stuart, 1794 Elizabeth Greenleaf John Singleton Copley, 1753–54 Captain John Gell Gilbert Stuart, 1785 Gideon Tucker William Sidney Mount, 1830 Mrs. Andrew Sigourney Gilbert Stuart, Ca. 1820 Matthew Clarkson Gilbert Stuart, ca. 1794 Mrs. Gideon Tucker William Sidney Mount, 1830