Samuel Stillman Osgood (June 9, 1808 – 1885) was a 19th-century American

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

painter.

Biography

Osgood was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, to James Osgood and Elizabeth Badger. He studied painting in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. After his marriage to poet Frances Sargent Locke, he continued his art education at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London. Upon returning to America, he settled in New York City, where he was made an associate of the National Academy of Design. In 1849, he went to California where he stayed nearly a year,

prospecting Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by Mining engineering#Pre-mining, exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. ...

for gold and painting portraits in San Francisco. His wife died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1850. Osgood designed her memorial at

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where she was buried. Inspired by her poem "The Hand That Swept the Sounding Lyre", Osgood designed a 15-foot memorial: a white marble base topped by a bronze

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

crowned by a laurel wreath. Four of the five strings of the lyre were designed as cut (symbolizing his wife and three daughters, who were all dead by 1851). On his death, he asked his second wife, Sarah Rodman (Howland) Osgood, to cut the fifth string.Linden, Blanche M. G. ''Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery''. Amherst, MA:

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, 2007: 197. His portrait sitters included his wife,

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

Davy Crockett Colonel (United States), Colonel David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American politician, militia officer and frontiersman. Often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier", he represented Tennesse ...

John Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Switzerland, Swiss immigrant who became a Mexican and later an American citizen, known for establishing Sutter ...

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

, Alice Cary, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Thomas Campbell, Mary E. Hewitt and Caroline E. S. Norton.

Gallery

File:Samuel Stillman Osgood - Rodman McCamley Price - NPG.98.23 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg,

Rodman McCamley Price Rodman McCamley Price (May 5, 1816June 7, 1894) was an American naval officer, businessman, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 17th Governor of New Jersey from 1854 to 1857. He also worked to establish the American government in C ...

File:Edgar Allan Poe by Samuel S Osgood, 1845.png, Edgar Allan Poe File:Samuel Stillman Osgood - Epes Sargent (1813-1880) - H562 - Harvard Art Museums.jpg, Epes Sargent File:Samuel Stillman Osgood - Robert Troup Paine (1829-1851) - H116 - Harvard Art Museums.jpg, Robert Troupe Paine

References

External links

Samuel Stillman Osgood at AskArt.com
19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 1808 births 1885 deaths Davy Crockett Artists from New Haven, Connecticut Painters from Connecticut {{US-painter-1800s-stub

Biography

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links