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for Edward W. Nichols
1819 - 1871
Edward Nichols initially chose the law as his profession, but apparently it was not long before he turned to art. Henry W. French wrote that he studied with Jasper Francis Cropsey in New York in 1848 and continued his study abroad in 1853. As Cropsey was living in Italy from 1847 into 1849, that lore about Nichols is confused at best, if not altogether questionable. Nichols was, however, registered in the Academy school's antique class for the 1851-52 season, and if he ever studied with Cropsey, it would probably have been at this time. Henry Tuckerman mentioned Nichols only in a summary listing of "portrait-painters more or less successful in the United States during the last forty years"; this also is perplexing, since the artist's exhibition record shows him to have been exclusively a painter of landscapes. French counts Nichols as a Connecticut artist, noting that "he sketched and painted to some extent about Hartford" and stating that he married in that city. However, his primary place of residence, from at least 1851 until the end of his life, was New York.
Nichols made his first appearance in an Academy annual in 1853, when he showed View on the Sugar River, Green Mountain Scenery, and Returning from Pic-Nic. Throughout his career he would focus on such landscapes, particularly the popular scenic areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, and upstate New York. Views of the Tyrol shown in the Academy annual of 1856; of the Rhine, "including Drachenfels," shown in 1858; and of Kenilworth shown in 1859 suggest that he may have spent some time abroad. Looking into the Gulf of Mexico, shown in the 1871 Academy annual, the last year of his life, prompts speculation that Nichols was beginning to expand his subject range beyond the conventional-and by then outmoded-New England and New York State haunts of the Hudson River School landscapists.
The Academy initially elected Nichols an Associate in 1858; however, he did not present the requisite portrait within the year allowed. Apparently the Academy thought well enough of his work to repeat its offer of membership three years later, when this portrait by Gove secured his election. The portrait by Gove that Nichols lent to the Academy's 1859 annual, and to the Boston Athenaeum exhibition the same year, was surely not of the artist himself, or it would have been presented in qualification of his first election as Associate.
Nichols made his first appearance in an Academy annual in 1853, when he showed View on the Sugar River, Green Mountain Scenery, and Returning from Pic-Nic. Throughout his career he would focus on such landscapes, particularly the popular scenic areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, and upstate New York. Views of the Tyrol shown in the Academy annual of 1856; of the Rhine, "including Drachenfels," shown in 1858; and of Kenilworth shown in 1859 suggest that he may have spent some time abroad. Looking into the Gulf of Mexico, shown in the 1871 Academy annual, the last year of his life, prompts speculation that Nichols was beginning to expand his subject range beyond the conventional-and by then outmoded-New England and New York State haunts of the Hudson River School landscapists.
The Academy initially elected Nichols an Associate in 1858; however, he did not present the requisite portrait within the year allowed. Apparently the Academy thought well enough of his work to repeat its offer of membership three years later, when this portrait by Gove secured his election. The portrait by Gove that Nichols lent to the Academy's 1859 annual, and to the Boston Athenaeum exhibition the same year, was surely not of the artist himself, or it would have been presented in qualification of his first election as Associate.
