biography of William SWAIN (1803-1847)

Birth place: Newburyport, MA

Death place: Norfolk, VA

Addresses: Nantucket,1828; New Bedford, Newburyport, MA,1830; NYC,1833-39; Norfolk (VA), 1841; NYC, 1844-46

Profession: Portrait painter

Studied: Royal Acad., London, 1841; and in Paris, Rome, Florence, until 1844

Exhibited: Boston Athenaeum, 1828; NAD, 1833-38, 1841, 1845-56

Member: ANA, 1837-47

Work: Virginia Hist. Soc.; Nantucket Hist. Assoc.; Old Dartmouth Hist. Soc.

Comments: Swain opened his first studio in Newburyport, MA, in 1824. He sought commissions in Nantucket, New Bedford, NYC, and Vorfolk, VA. He was Nantucket"s most prolific portraitist, painting more than 100 portraits of ship captains, merchants, lawyers, and other professionals and their wives. He had a studio in NYC by 1833. He was the grandfather of the noted Pennsylvania artist, Violet Oakley (see entry).

Sources: G&W; Belknap, Artists and Craftsmen of Essex County, 13; Boston Athenaeum Cat., 1828; Cowdrey, NAD; NYCD 1834, 1837, 1839; NYBD 1846; Blasdale, Artists of New Bedford, 180-81 (w/repro.); add"l info. courtesy Nantucket Hist. Ass"n.