Edwin Tryon Billings (1824-1893) was a portrait painter in 19th-century United States. He lived in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

;

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

; and in

Boston 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 ...

. Among his numerous portrait subjects were

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the 14th and 19th United States Secretary of State, U.S. secretary o ...

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was an Abolitionism in the United States, American abolitionist, journalist, and reformism (historical), social reformer. He is best known for his widely read anti-slavery newspaper ''The ...

and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Biography

Billings was born November 20, 1824, to wheelwright Ira Billings and Eunice Tryon of Massachusetts.George Sheldon
History of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Vol. 2.
Deerfield, Mass.: E.A. Hall & co., 1896. Page 84. He lived in Montgomery, Alabama, intermittently c. 1850-1859; and in Worcester, Massachusetts, c. 1854-1856. He "first visited Worcester in 1854. Billings painted several important Worcester residents, including John Davis and Stephen Salisbury. His work hung in many public buildings including the Worcester County Courthouse and Mechanics Hall." He moved to Boston in the 1860s, working in the Studio Building on Tremont Street c. 1864-1891. In the 1874 exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association Billings showed several paintings, including "Child and Kitten," and "Children and Rabbits." His work also appeared in the 1887

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, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

exhibit. Billings married Frances E. Keller in 1867. Friends included painter George Fuller, with whom he travelled in the southern United States. Among Billings' possessions was a copy of

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

's ''Two Rivulets,'' annotated by Whitman, and notably auctioned for a relatively high sum in 1909. Portrait subjects included: *

Josiah Bartlett Josiah Bartlett ( – May 19, 1795) was an American Founding Father, physician, statesman, a delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire, and a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. He was a ...

, a founding father * Ira Billings, father of E. T. Billings *

James Freeman Clarke James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888) was an American minister, theologian and author. Biography Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on April 4, 1810, James Freeman Clarke was the son of Samuel Clarke and Rebecca Parker Hull, though ...

* Alpheus Crosby * Thomas Russell Crosby * John DavisPaine. Portraits and busts in possession of the American Antiquarian Society, and of other associations in Worcester, Mass. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Jan. 1876 * George Fuller * Helen Eliza Benson Garrison, wife of W. L. GarrisonNew York Historical Society
Retrieved 2010-10-02 * William Lloyd Garrison * Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. *

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Maria Mitchell Maria Mitchell ( ; August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later known as " Miss Mitchell's Comet ...

* Andrew Preston PeabodyEdward J. Young. Memoir of Rev. Andrew P. Peabody. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Second Series, Vol. 11, 1896 * Abigail Lord Rogers * Stephen Salisbury * Daniel Webster * Calvin Willard ;Portraits by E. T. Billings Image:William Lloyd Garrison by Edwin T Billings NYHistoricalSociety.png, Portrait of W. L. Garrison, 19th century (New York Historical society) Image:1889 OWHolmes byETBillings.png, Portrait of O. W. Holmes Sr., 19th century Image:Charles Gideon Putnam MD ca1860s by Edwin T Billings HistoricNewEngland.png, Portrait of Charles Gideon Putnam, MD, c. 1860s (Historic New England) Image:DanielWebster by Edwin T Billings.png, Portrait of Daniel Webster, 19th century Image:Isaac Adams by Edwin T Billings.png, Portrait of Isaac Adams, 19th century

References

External links

Smithsonian
Art Inventories Catalog. "Billings, Edwin Tryon, 1824-1893, painter" * Preservation Worcester

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billings, Edwin T 1824 births 1893 deaths Painters from Boston 19th century in Boston American portrait painters Cultural history of Boston 19th-century American painters American male painters 19th-century American male artists

Biography

References

Further reading

External links