Celebrated in Boston for his golden-toned portraits of women executed in the spirit of the Old Masters, Benjamin C. Porter received his earliest instruction in that city. Although sources claim that he had no particular master, he is known to have had lessons in anatomy from William Rimmer and in painting from Albion Harris Bicknell. Aside from study at Harvard, Porter's primary education seems to have consisted of several trips to Europe in 1872, 1875, 1878, and 1881. Cities which particularly interested him were Paris and Venice.
By the early 1870s, Porter had established a successful portrait studio in Boston. His mark was made in New York in 1877 when a group of works he exhibited at the NAD Annual caused something of a critical sensation. He was soon elected to the Academy's membership (although he had to wait until 1903 to be elected to the Society of American Artists), and in 1883 he opened a New York studio, dividing his time for several years between Manhattan and Boston. His summers were usually spent in Newport, Rhode Island. Porter married Mary C. Clark in 1887. Following his death, a memorial exhibition was held at the Edward Brandus Galleries, New York, in 1910.
