Edwin Whitefield (September 22, 1816 – December 26, 1892) was a

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

who is best known for his

lithographed Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

views of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n cities and for a number of illustrated books on colonial homes in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

. He was a noted illustrator of native American flora.

Early life

Born in

East Lulworth East Lulworth is a village and civil parish nine miles east of Dorchester, near Lulworth Cove, in the county of Dorset, England. The village, which consists of 17th-century thatched cottages, is dominated by the barracks of the Royal Armoured ...

, near

Wareham, Dorset Wareham ( ) is a historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parishes in England, civil parish, in the England, English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome, Dorset, River Frome southwest of Poole. Situa ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, he emigrated to the United States in 1838.

Career

Whitefield visited a series of North American cities, where he published books reproducing the paintings he made there. His collections were published by subscription. The cities he visited included

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

(1845),

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

(1851),

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

(1852),

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

(1853-1854),

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

(1854),

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

(1855), Jamestown (1882), and

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 ...

(1889). In 1856, after visiting

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, he made it his home, using landscapes to help persuade those seeking land to let him play a role in their purchases. Whitefield Township in

Kandiyohi County, Minnesota Kandiyohi County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, its population is 43,732. As of November 20, 1871, its county seat is Willmar. Kandiyohi County comprises the US Census Bureau's "Willmar, MN Micropolit ...

is named for the artist while nearby Lake Lillian was named for Whitefield's wife. He illustrated native American flora. Some of his illustrations were included in the 1848-1850 volumes by Asa B. Strong titled The American Flora and in the 1845 volume by Emma C Embury, American Wildflowers in Their Native Haunts. He died in Dedham, Massachusetts.

References

External links

*
The Winterthur Library
Overview of an archival collection about Edwin Whitefield. 1816 births 1892 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters American printmakers American landscape painters Artists from Dorset 19th-century American male artists {{printmaker-stub