biography of Samuel Stillman OSGOOD (1808-1885)

Birth place: New Haven, CT

Death place: California

Profession: Portrait and historical painter

Studied: Boston, before 1829; Europe, 1835-39.

Exhibited: NAD, 1833-68; Boston Athenaeum; PAFA, 1847-69; Brooklyn AA, 1868-69.

Member: ANA, 1843.

Work: Alamo, San Antonio, TX; Brooklyn Mus.; NYHS; Soc. of Calif. Pioneers.

Comments: Osgood grew up and worked in Boston, and he visited Charleston, SC, during the winter of 1829-30. In 1835 he married the noted poet Frances S. Locke and with her went to Europe. After their return to America in 1839, the Osgoods went to Charleston and Boston and then settled in NYC where they lived (except for a residence in Philadelphia between 1847 and 1849 and a trip to California in 1849-50) until Frances Osgood's death in 1851. After this date, Samuel made a second trip to Europe, visited California in 1852-53, and also went to New Orleans 1853-54. In 1870 he stopped in San Francisco on his way to Japan. He eventually settled permanently in California and was very successful there as a portraitist. He was the brother of artists John B. and Henry H. Osgood (see entries).

Sources: G&W; Osgood, Genealogy of the Descendants of John, Christopher and William Osgood, 191-92; death date courtesy Donald A. Shelley; Rutledge, Artists in the Life of Charleston; French, Art and Artists in Connecticut, 60; Swan, BA; Cowdrey, NAD; Cowdrey, AA & AAU; Rutledge, PA; NYCD 1849+; Delgado-WP cites Commercial Bulletin (Feb. 22, Dec. 22, 1853), Courier (May 18, 1853), and Picayune (May 25, 1855). More recently, see Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists; P&H Samuels; Hughes, Artists in California.