Mather Brown

 ( 1761 Births ) 

Mather Brown (baptized 11 October 1761 – 25 May 1831) was an American painter who was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was active in England.

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Early life and education Brown was the son of Gawen and Elizabeth (Byles) Brown, and descended from the Rev. Increase Mather on his mother's side. He was taught by his aunt and around 1773 (age 12) became a pupil of Gilbert Stuart. He arrived in London in 1781 to further his training in Benjamin West's studio, entered the Royal Academy schools in 1782 with plans to be a miniature painter, and began to exhibit a year later.

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Painting career In 1784, he painted two religious paintings for the church of St. Mary's-in-the-Strand, which led Brown to found a partnership with the painter Daniel Orme for the commercialization of these and other works through exhibition and the sale of . Among these were large paintings of scenes from English history, as well as scenes from Shakespeare's plays. However, despite their success he began to concentrate on portraiture. His first successes were with American sitters, among others his patron John Adams and family in 1784–85; this painting is now in the Boston Athenæum. In the spring of 1786, he began painting the earliest known portrait of Thomas Jefferson, who was visiting London. He also painted Charles Bulfinch the same year. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1798.

His 1788 full-length portrait of Prince Frederick Augustus in the uniform of Colonel of the Coldstream Guards led to appointment as History and Portrait Painter to the Prince, later the Duke of York and Albany. Other paintings include the Prince of Wales, later George IV (about 1789), Queen Charlotte, and Cornwallis. A self-portrait now belongs to the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Later life and death A falling off patronage in the mid-1790s, and failure to be elected to the Royal Academy, led Brown to leave London in 1808 for Bath, Bristol, and Liverpool. He settled in Manchester, returning to London almost two decades later, in 1824, where, even after West's death, he continued to imitate his teacher's style of painting. Unable to secure commissions, Brown eventually died in poverty in London.

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Gallery File:John Singleton Copley - Portrait of Mrs. Gawen Brown - Google Art Project.jpg|alt=1763 portrait by John Singleton Copley of Elizabeth Byles Brown, Mather Brown's mother| 1763 portrait by John Singleton Copley of Elizabeth Byles Brown, Mather Brown's mother

Carrie Rebora (1995). 9780870997440, Metropolitan Museum of Art. . ISBN 9780870997440

File:Brown - Anne Watts, wife of the 11th Earl of Cassillis.jpg|Anne Watts, wife of the 11th Earl of Cassillis File:11th Earl Of Cassilis.jpg|Portrait of 11th Earl Of Cassilis File:JohnAdams.png|Portrait of John Adams 1785 File:Mather Brown - Thomas Jefferson - Google Art Project.jpg| Portrait of Thomas Jefferson while in London in 1786 File:Mather Brown - Portrait of Major John Norton as Mohawk Chief Teyoninhokarawen - Google Art Project.jpg| Portrait of Major John Norton as Mohawk Chief Teyoninhokarawen by Mather Brown, ca. 1805. Yale Center for British Art File:Col. William Stephen Smith by Mather Brown, 1786.jpg|Portrait of William Stephen Smith 1786 Abigail Adams Smith by Mather Brown, 1785.jpg|Portrait of Abigail (Adams) Smith 1785 File:William Franklin painting attributed to Mather Brown.jpg|Portrait of William Franklin

File:Chevalier de Saint-Georges.JPG|Portrait of virtuoso violinist and champion fencer Chevalier de Saint-Georges in 1787 File:Henry Angelo by Mather Brown.jpg| Portrait of Henry Angelo, 1790 File:General George Eliott MET DT5671.jpg|General George Eliott, 1790 File:Sir Richard Arkwright by Mather Brown 1790.jpeg| Portrait of Richard Arkwright, 1790 File:Louis XVI Saying Farewell to His Family.jpg| Louis XVI Saying Farewell to His Family, 1793 File:Lord Howe on the deck of HMS Queen Charlotte 1 June 1794.jpg| Lord Howe on the Deck of the Queen Charlotte, 1794 File:Mather Brown - Battle of the Nile.jpg| The Battle of the Nile, 1825

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Sources

• Evans, Dorinda, Mather Brown: Early American Artist in England. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan, 1982.

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External links

• Union List of Artist Names, Getty Vocabularies. ULAN Full Record Display for Mather Brown. Getty Vocabulary Program, Getty Research Institute. Los Angeles, California.

Categories: 1761 Births, 1831 Deaths, 18th-century American Painters, 18th-century American Male Artists, American Male Painters, 19th-century American Painters, American History Painters, American Portrait Painters, Artists From Boston, Alumni Of The Royal Academy Schools, Fellows Of The American Academy Of Arts And Sciences, 18th-century English Painters, English Male Painters, 19th-century English Painters, English Portrait Painters, American Emigrants To England, 19th-century American Male Artists, 19th-century English Male Artists, 18th-century English Male Artists

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