American, 1833 - 1905
Boughton came to America at the age of three with his parents who settled in Albany, New York. He got his start as an artist in that city painting scenery for a local theatre. By 1850 he had decided to make painting his profession. According to Charles Calverley, he joined Albany's artists who frequently met in Annesley's art store. In addition to Calverley, the group included Erastus Dow Palmer, Launt Thompson, Asa Twitchell, and Homer Dodge Martin.
Due to the sale of a painting to the American Art-Union in 1852, Boughton was able to travel to England in 1853 to study British art and to sketch throughout the British Isles. He returned to Albany in 1858 but soon went to New York, a move which may have been prompted by the success of his landscape, Winter Twilight (coll: New-York Historical Society, New York), which was shown at the Academy's annual exhibition of that year. According to the Art Journal, this work was painted out-of-doors and gained Boughton his first critical attention. Perhaps more importantly, its exhibition led to his first major sale, the work being bought by the New York collector, R. L. Stuart. Meanwhile, for the 1859-60 season Boughton furthered his artistic studies in the life class at the Academy.
The sale of Winter Twilight enabled Boughton, in 1860 or 1861, to go to France where he stayed for about eighteen months. In Paris, he studied with Edward May, who taught him the methods of Couture, and with Edouard FrŠre, with whom he traveled to Ecouen. He was on his way back to American, passing through England, when friends encouraged him to show examples of his work at the Royal Academy. He followed their advice, exhibiting paintings there in 1863, and, as it turned out, in almost ever subsequent year until his death. (He was made an associate of the Royal Academy in 1879.) Critical success led to Boughton's decision to settle permanently in England, and he quickly became one of America's most well-known British expatriates.
Among the paintings he showed in that country were many of the type for which he became famous, paintings depicting scenes from early and colonial American history and literature. A notable example of is Pilgrims Going to Church, 1867 (New York Public Library on loan to New-York Historical Society) which endured as an American icon of its puritan past--with particular association with the Thanksgiving holiday--well into the twentieth century.
Despite his expatriation, Boughton kept close ties with America, continuing to be an active participant in American exhibitions, including those of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the Brooklyn Art Association, as well as the National Academy.
At Boughton's death the tribute entered into Academy minutes, besides emphasizing the warmth and charm of his personality, noted the impact of his renderings of Colonial America on the popular imagination.
He was a brilliant and versatile man--gifted also with the literary instinct and a conversationalist of exceptional parts . . . . The peculiar value, the individuality of his work as a painter of landscape and figure is well known to all. He found worthy material in the early history, the romance and poetry of this country. His conceptions of their prominent characters have been adopted as representative . . . . As a man and as an Artist, he was esteemed and loved, and his death is deeply deplored by a host of friends in England and America.
Due to the sale of a painting to the American Art-Union in 1852, Boughton was able to travel to England in 1853 to study British art and to sketch throughout the British Isles. He returned to Albany in 1858 but soon went to New York, a move which may have been prompted by the success of his landscape, Winter Twilight (coll: New-York Historical Society, New York), which was shown at the Academy's annual exhibition of that year. According to the Art Journal, this work was painted out-of-doors and gained Boughton his first critical attention. Perhaps more importantly, its exhibition led to his first major sale, the work being bought by the New York collector, R. L. Stuart. Meanwhile, for the 1859-60 season Boughton furthered his artistic studies in the life class at the Academy.
The sale of Winter Twilight enabled Boughton, in 1860 or 1861, to go to France where he stayed for about eighteen months. In Paris, he studied with Edward May, who taught him the methods of Couture, and with Edouard FrŠre, with whom he traveled to Ecouen. He was on his way back to American, passing through England, when friends encouraged him to show examples of his work at the Royal Academy. He followed their advice, exhibiting paintings there in 1863, and, as it turned out, in almost ever subsequent year until his death. (He was made an associate of the Royal Academy in 1879.) Critical success led to Boughton's decision to settle permanently in England, and he quickly became one of America's most well-known British expatriates.
Among the paintings he showed in that country were many of the type for which he became famous, paintings depicting scenes from early and colonial American history and literature. A notable example of is Pilgrims Going to Church, 1867 (New York Public Library on loan to New-York Historical Society) which endured as an American icon of its puritan past--with particular association with the Thanksgiving holiday--well into the twentieth century.
Despite his expatriation, Boughton kept close ties with America, continuing to be an active participant in American exhibitions, including those of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the Brooklyn Art Association, as well as the National Academy.
At Boughton's death the tribute entered into Academy minutes, besides emphasizing the warmth and charm of his personality, noted the impact of his renderings of Colonial America on the popular imagination.
He was a brilliant and versatile man--gifted also with the literary instinct and a conversationalist of exceptional parts . . . . The peculiar value, the individuality of his work as a painter of landscape and figure is well known to all. He found worthy material in the early history, the romance and poetry of this country. His conceptions of their prominent characters have been adopted as representative . . . . As a man and as an Artist, he was esteemed and loved, and his death is deeply deplored by a host of friends in England and America.
