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for Joseph Alexander Ames
American, 1816 - 1872
A self-taught portrait and genre painter, Ames began working in his native New Hampshire. Henry Tuckerman tells of an crude attempt at a portrait done at age twelve. Honing his skills, Ames soon achieved a moderate degree of success in his home region. In 1841, he relocated to Boston which remained his primary residence for over the next twenty-five years.
In Boston, Ames fell under the spell of Washington Allston. Like a number of young artists, he tried to emulate Allston's "old master" technique of successive glazes which mellowed and enriched underlying color. The sculptor Thomas Ball reminisced, "[Ames's] pictures created quite a sensation for their Titan color, although neither of us had ever seen a Titian" (quoted by Spassky). Ames had an opportunity to see the Italian masters first-hand when he went to Rome in 1848. There, he painted a celebrated portrait of Pope Pius IX, which was one of five works he exhibited at the National Academy Annual of 1850. Back in Boston by the end of 1848, Ames attracted an increasing number of portrait commissions. He was famous for his likenesses of Daniel Webster, of which he did at least nine.
Although his home remained in Boston, Ames made at least two portrait-painting trips to Newport, Rhode Island, in the late 1850s. In 1850--the first and last time Ames was represented in an Academy Annual until 1869--his address given in the catalogue was in New York, however, following the close of the exhibition in July, he wrote the Academy from Boston, giving directions for the Pius IX to be returned to him there. He certainly maintained a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building, New York, between 1861 and 1863. During these same years, he was active in several artistic organizations in Boston, including the Boston Artists' Association, the Boston Art Club (serving as its first president), and the Allston Club.
Most accounts of Ames's life assert that he left Boston in 1870, moving first to Baltimore temporariy for reasons of health, and then to New York. However, Ames is already listed in the 1869 New York City Directory as making his home in Manhattan. In addition, his election as an Associate of the Academy came in the last year the regulation requiring candidates be residents of New York was in effect. His New York career proved brief, however: three years after his arrival, he died of "brain fever," leaving a wife, Sarah Fisher Clampitt, a sculptor, and several children.
JD
In Boston, Ames fell under the spell of Washington Allston. Like a number of young artists, he tried to emulate Allston's "old master" technique of successive glazes which mellowed and enriched underlying color. The sculptor Thomas Ball reminisced, "[Ames's] pictures created quite a sensation for their Titan color, although neither of us had ever seen a Titian" (quoted by Spassky). Ames had an opportunity to see the Italian masters first-hand when he went to Rome in 1848. There, he painted a celebrated portrait of Pope Pius IX, which was one of five works he exhibited at the National Academy Annual of 1850. Back in Boston by the end of 1848, Ames attracted an increasing number of portrait commissions. He was famous for his likenesses of Daniel Webster, of which he did at least nine.
Although his home remained in Boston, Ames made at least two portrait-painting trips to Newport, Rhode Island, in the late 1850s. In 1850--the first and last time Ames was represented in an Academy Annual until 1869--his address given in the catalogue was in New York, however, following the close of the exhibition in July, he wrote the Academy from Boston, giving directions for the Pius IX to be returned to him there. He certainly maintained a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building, New York, between 1861 and 1863. During these same years, he was active in several artistic organizations in Boston, including the Boston Artists' Association, the Boston Art Club (serving as its first president), and the Allston Club.
Most accounts of Ames's life assert that he left Boston in 1870, moving first to Baltimore temporariy for reasons of health, and then to New York. However, Ames is already listed in the 1869 New York City Directory as making his home in Manhattan. In addition, his election as an Associate of the Academy came in the last year the regulation requiring candidates be residents of New York was in effect. His New York career proved brief, however: three years after his arrival, he died of "brain fever," leaving a wife, Sarah Fisher Clampitt, a sculptor, and several children.
JD
