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Benoni Irwin (June 29, 1840 – August 26, 1896) was an American portraitist. A pupil of the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, USA, he trained in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
with the famous French portraitist Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran (1838–1917). His work was shown in the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1889, and the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Irwin had studios in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...
, and
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
.


Early life

Benoni Burdeau Irwin was born on June 29, 1840, in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada to Jared Irwin (1803–1873) and Lydia Kennedy (1807–1871) and moved to upstate New York as a young man. His family were
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
, originally from the Scottish Borders. The Canadian Irwins were Late Loyalists, i.e. those loyal to the British Crown who emigrated to Canada after the American Revolution had ended. Members of the Irwin family fought against the US during the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. Despite their participation in the Rebellion of 1837, Benoni Irwin was patronized by a Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, thus launching his career.


Career

He was a pupil of the National Academy of Design in New York City from 1861 to 1863. He spent considerable time in San Francisco, from c. 1871–1877. From 1877–1878, Irwin trained in Paris with the famous French portraitist Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran (1838 – 1917), and exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1879. He returned to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1879, where he spent time in Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts;
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, New York City, and Yonkers, throughout the 1880s and 1890s. In 1889 Irwin was elected into the
National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
as an Associate Academician.


Personal life

In 1873, while in California, Irwin married Adelaide (Adela) Vellejo Curtis (May 29, 1853–1932). She was the daughter of Lucian Curtis, a copper plate engraver and farmer, born in Coventry, Connecticut and Celia Carlton Perkins, born in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The Curtis family had come to San Francisco during the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
in 1849 and, at one time, lived in the famous
Rancho Petaluma Adobe Rancho Petaluma Adobe is a historic ranch house in Sonoma County, California. It was built from adobe bricks in 1836 by order of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It was the largest privately owned adobe structure built in California and is the largest ...
, owned by General Mariano Vallejo, a family friend. Irwin and his wife, Adela, had two children, Edith C. (1874–1925) and Constance (b. 1885).


Death

By the 1880s, Irwin and his wife and daughters were living in
Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
. They had a second home on the shore of Coventry Lake, Connecticut, which the family would visit during the summer. The Irwins were frequent guests of Adela's aunt, Charlotte Curtis Dean, a lifelong Coventry resident. It was here in 1896 that Irwin, while taking photographs of the sunset from a round bottom boat, lost his balance and fell into the lake. Postmortem revealed that Irwin had drowned after being knocked unconscious by hitting his head on the edge of the boat as he fell. Benoni Irwin is buried with his wife, Adela, and daughter, Edith, in
Nathan Hale Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot, soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured b ...
Cemetery, Coventry, CT.


Miscellaneous

*In 1870, while in Louisville, KY, Irwin lived with American artist Andrew Fisher Bunner (1841–1897), landscape and marine painter *Irwin was the brother-in-law of American artist Mary Curtis Richardson (1848–1931), known as the Mary Cassatt of the west *Irwin was a close friend of
John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...
, who helped develop
Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...
as a national park.


Portraits

(partial list) * John Henry Clifford (1809–1876), Governor of the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, 1853–1854 *
Joshua A. Norton Joshua Abraham Norton (February 4, 1818January 8, 1880), known as Emperor Norton, was a resident of San Francisco, California who, in 1859, proclaimed himself "Norton I., Emperor of the United States". In 1863, after Napoleon III invaded Mexi ...
, a.k.a. His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States and Protector of
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
" *Edward C. Messer, head of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
in
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
(
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
collection) *Charles H. Farnham, writer *Judge David Curtis Sanford (died 1864), of
New Milford, Connecticut New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is in western Connecticut, north of Danbury, on the banks of the Housatonic River, and it shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood Lake. It is t ...
, member of state senate, 1854; superior court judge in Connecticut, 1854–64 *Emily Bull Sanford, wife of Judge David Curtis Sanford *William Diamon Black, New Milford, CT resident, son-in-law of Judge David Curtis Sanford *Carolin Wilson Cooke, Kentucky resident *Alice Lee Cooke, Kentucky resident *Thomas Prather Jacob, son of prominent Louisville, KY businessman John Jeremiah Jacob and brother of
Richard Taylor Jacob Richard Taylor Jacob (March 13, 1825 – September 13, 1903) was an American attorney and politician, elected as 17th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky (1863–64). Although a slaveholder, he was loyal to the Union during the American Civil War, r ...
,
Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
of Kentucky (1863–64) *Thomas Newcomb (1843–1906), first president of the
Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journal ...
, San Francisco; secretary to the
Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...
* Charles Warren Stoddard (1843–1909), American author * Aimee Crocker (1864–1941), American heiress, princess, mystic and author AKA Amy Crocker Ashe * Oliver Frazer (1808–1864), Kentucky portrait and miniature painter *George T. Bromley, prominent San Francisco resident *Philadelphia Pearson Irwin, his aunt, of Newmarket, Ontario *Thomas Hughes Irwin, his uncle, also of Newmarket *Matriarch in Green Velvet (1894). Oil on canvas *Portrait Of Frederic Remington (1891). Oil on canvas (In the collection of the National Academy of Design)Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design ... By David Bernard Dearinger *''Portrait Of A Child In Blue'' (1880). Oil on canvas *''Portrait Of China Tea Trade Captain Hathaway'' (1881). Oil on canvas *''Portrait Of A Female Artist'' (1886). Oil on canvas *''Portrait Of A Young Woman'' (1883). Watercolor *''The Lute Player''. Oil on canvasboard


References

Even in Dearinger's excellent compendium of the National Academy of Design, Irwin's studies under Carolus-Duran are erroneously listed as 1867–1869. This comes from the Catalogue of Mark Hopkins Institute, published in 1902, after Irwin's death. The Catalogue of The Southern Exposition in Louisville, published in 1884, while Irwin was still alive, correctly lists his years of study under Carolus-Duran as 1877–1878. The editor of the Catalogue of The Southern Exposition was Charles M. Kurtz, with whom Irwin personally corresponded. {{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Benoni 1840 births 1896 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters People from Newmarket, Ontario Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States Artists from Ontario Painters from New York (state) National Academy of Design alumni Deaths by drowning in the United States Accidental deaths in Connecticut American portrait painters American people of English descent American expatriates in France 19th-century American male artists