Aaron Draper Shattuck
American, 1832 - 1928
Aaron Draper Shattuck, a landscape, portrait and animal painter, was closely associated with the White Mountain School. Though he was quite popular with his contemporary public, today his works are relatively unknown; they remain privately held in collections of his descendants. Shattuck also was a successful inventor.
Born in Francestown, New Hamphire in 1832, Shattuck first studied portrait and landscape painting with Alexander Ransome in Boston. By 1852, Shattuck had moved to New York City with his teacher. There he enrolled in classes at the National Academy of Design, financing his studies with portrait commissions.
Beginning in 1854, Shattuck, like other second-generation members of the Hudson River School, made summer etching trips in New York State and New England. He then painted romantic mountain scenes of trees, rocks and water during the winter in his New York city studio.
He was popular with fellow artists John E Kensett, James D. Smillie, Samuel Coleman, Asher B. Durand and William Sidney Mount. He collaborated with Asher B. Durand and Mount on several paintings. Shattuck spent a summer Coleman's New Hampshire camp 1856, and later married Coleman's sister.
Shattuck work is not flashy, but quietly romantic. He preferred to paint on small canvases, giving a feel of intimacy to the work. His paintings have a photographic quality, in part because of the scientific precision with which he rendered foreground detail. Shattuck was equally adept at suggestion in his treatment of backgrounds.
By 1861, Shattuck was a member of the National Academy of Design. He moved from New York City to Ganby, Connecticut in 1870. During this period, he achieved recognition as a cattle and sheep painter.
Shattuck was stricken with a serious illness in 1888, after which he painted virtually nothing. At the time of his death in 1928, he was the oldest living member of the National Academy of Design. At that time, more than 600 of his paintings remained in his studio, representing 37 years of painting.
Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton
Born in Francestown, New Hamphire in 1832, Shattuck first studied portrait and landscape painting with Alexander Ransome in Boston. By 1852, Shattuck had moved to New York City with his teacher. There he enrolled in classes at the National Academy of Design, financing his studies with portrait commissions.
Beginning in 1854, Shattuck, like other second-generation members of the Hudson River School, made summer etching trips in New York State and New England. He then painted romantic mountain scenes of trees, rocks and water during the winter in his New York city studio.
He was popular with fellow artists John E Kensett, James D. Smillie, Samuel Coleman, Asher B. Durand and William Sidney Mount. He collaborated with Asher B. Durand and Mount on several paintings. Shattuck spent a summer Coleman's New Hampshire camp 1856, and later married Coleman's sister.
Shattuck work is not flashy, but quietly romantic. He preferred to paint on small canvases, giving a feel of intimacy to the work. His paintings have a photographic quality, in part because of the scientific precision with which he rendered foreground detail. Shattuck was equally adept at suggestion in his treatment of backgrounds.
By 1861, Shattuck was a member of the National Academy of Design. He moved from New York City to Ganby, Connecticut in 1870. During this period, he achieved recognition as a cattle and sheep painter.
Shattuck was stricken with a serious illness in 1888, after which he painted virtually nothing. At the time of his death in 1928, he was the oldest living member of the National Academy of Design. At that time, more than 600 of his paintings remained in his studio, representing 37 years of painting.
Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton
Aaron Draper Shattuck was one of the leading artists of the Hudson River School's second generation, known for his small, intimate views of nature. His gentle pastoral landscapes proved immensely popular with nineteenth century audiences. As Henry Tuckerman, the foremost art critic of the period, explains: "Shattuck imparts a rural feeling so genial and genuine that we feel transported to the very spot he represents."
Born in Francestown, New Hampshire, Shattuck trained in the area under Alexander Ransom, a portrait and landscape painter. He left with Ransom for New York in 1855, submitting his first painting to the National Academy of Design that same year and quickly establishing himself in the leading art circles of the time. Best known for his White Mountain scenes, he summered there from 1854 to 1860, sharing an old farmhouse with Samuel Colman, Sanford Robinson Gifford and Richard William Hubbard. In 1859, he opened a studio in the famous Tenth Street Studio Building, forming close working relationships with his neighbors, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Church; he married Samuel Colman's sister, Marion, the following year. In 1870, he and his family moved to Granby, Connecticut, a cattle-raising town steeped in rustic tradition, which provided continual inspiration for his landscape paintings.
Shattuck was remarkably successful throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. He was named an Associate and Academician of the National Academy of Design and exhibited at all the major venues, including the National Academy of Design, the Boston Athenaeum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Washington Art Association and the Brooklyn Art Association. Today, his work is featured in the collections of the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, the Newark Museum, the Hudson River Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
Biography courtesy of Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, www.antiquesandfineart.com/questroyal
Born in Francestown, New Hampshire, Shattuck trained in the area under Alexander Ransom, a portrait and landscape painter. He left with Ransom for New York in 1855, submitting his first painting to the National Academy of Design that same year and quickly establishing himself in the leading art circles of the time. Best known for his White Mountain scenes, he summered there from 1854 to 1860, sharing an old farmhouse with Samuel Colman, Sanford Robinson Gifford and Richard William Hubbard. In 1859, he opened a studio in the famous Tenth Street Studio Building, forming close working relationships with his neighbors, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Church; he married Samuel Colman's sister, Marion, the following year. In 1870, he and his family moved to Granby, Connecticut, a cattle-raising town steeped in rustic tradition, which provided continual inspiration for his landscape paintings.
Shattuck was remarkably successful throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. He was named an Associate and Academician of the National Academy of Design and exhibited at all the major venues, including the National Academy of Design, the Boston Athenaeum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Washington Art Association and the Brooklyn Art Association. Today, his work is featured in the collections of the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, the Newark Museum, the Hudson River Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.
Biography courtesy of Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, www.antiquesandfineart.com/questroyal
