biography of Henry SARGENT (1770-1845)

Birth place: Gloucester, MA

Death place: Boston

Addresses: Boston, 1799-on

Profession: Portrait, historical, religious, and genre painter

Studied: Benjamin West in London, 1793-c.1799; with Gilbert Stuart, 1806

Member: NAD, 1840 (hon. mem.); Artists' Assoc. Boston (first pres., 1845)

Work: BMFA; Pilgrim Hall (Plymouth, MA)

Comments: One of the earliest anecdotal genre painters in America. He spent his childhood in Gloucester and Boston, then trained with B. West in Boston. Upon his return, he took up a career as an Army colonel, politician and, in later years, as an inventor. He painted throughout his life, however, producing portraits and historical pieces, such as The Landing of the Pilgrims" (1813, Pilgrim Hall), and is best known for his genre subjects, such as " The Tea Party" (c.1821, BMFA) and "The Dinner Party" (c.1821-25, BMFA).

Sources: G&W; DAB; Julia Addison, "Henry Sargent, a Boston Painter," Art in America (October 1929); Dunlap, History; Dickson, Observations on American Art by John Neal, 7-8; Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, 12; Swan, BA; Flexner, The Light of Distant Skies. More recently, see Baigell, Dictionary; 300 Years of American Art, vol. 1, 77"