Frederic Porter Vinton (January 29, 1846 – May 19, 1911), sometimes spelled Frederick, was an American painter.
Life
He was born in
Bangor, Maine
Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...
. He grew up in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, and moved to
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 ...
in 1861
For twenty years he worked as a bookkeeper, during which he studied art under
William Rimmer at the
Lowell Institute
The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. T ...
. Soon after studying at the Institute, he wrote an art review for the ''
Boston Advertiser''.
He opened a portrait studio 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 ...
in 1878. After his studio picked up business, he traveled abroad in Europe for eighteen months, then returned to marry Annie M. Pierce on June 27, 1883.
His first exhibition was in 1880, which showed a portrait of his. He contributed his art to the exhibit every year until 1883, in which political unrest in the Academy in which the exhibit belonged forced him to resign for a year. In 1884, he submitted "''Street in Toledo''", the first of his
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 ...
s to be submitted. Everything before it was a
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 ...
of some kind.
In 1891, he was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Frederic moved to
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
with his parents when he was ten. Then, five years later, his family moved to
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 ...
. After first working as a clerk, he for short time was a banker, and then worked as a bookkeeper.
While a bookkeeper, he began studying art under
William Rimmer of the
Lowell Institute
The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell Jr., who died in 1836. T ...
. Upon prompting from Rimmer, Vinton sent a review of some local artwork to the ''Boston Advertiser''. In 1878, he began his artistic career by starting a small portrait studio in Boston.
Vinton married Annie M. Peirce on June 27, 1883, after an eighteen-month trip across Europe, visiting the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Some of his most famous paintings of portraits of his young wife.
Paintings
Frederic specialized in portraits, although he had done some landscapes, such as ''"Street in Toledo"'' and ''"River View, Spring"''. His paintings have been described as
impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
ic. Some critiques have gone as far as to say his work was, more specifically, pre-1940's impressionism. His work was also highly influenced by his European travels, and his studies under many important artists of the time.
It is associated with the
Boston School of painting.
European travels
Frederic spent much of his time traveling the European continent, and it has influenced his work and differentiated it from the American work of the
same time, with one reviewer even calling him "an aristocrat of the old school".
In 1875, he traveled to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and studied under
Léon Bonnat
Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (; 20 June 1833 – 8 September 1922) was a French painter, Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur, art collector and professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.
Early life
Bonnat was born in Bayonne, but from 1846 to 1853 ...
for a season. In 1876, he spent a year in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
in which he spent his time learning under the teachings of
Frank Duveneck
Frank Duveneck (né Decker; October 9, 1848 – January 3, 1919) was an American figure and portrait painter.
Early life
Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernhard Decker. Decker died in a cholera epidemic whe ...
and the
Royal Academy of Munich. Later, he returned to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
for two years, citing his dislike of the German method of impressionism,
which included artists such as
Lovis Corinth
Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism.
Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Secessio ...
or
Max Liebermann
Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...
. While back in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, joined the Acadèmie Julian and was taught under
Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a romanticism French painter and sculptor, and he is one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.
Biography
Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon ...
.
In 1882, he traveled to
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
with
Robert Blum and
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design.
...
.
The three artists spent time in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
and
Toledo
Toledo most commonly refers to:
* Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain
* Province of Toledo, Spain
* Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States
Toledo may also refer to:
Places Belize
* Toledo District
* Toledo Settlement
Bolivia
* Toledo, Or ...
, and Frederic studied
portraiture
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 re ...
by studying
Velázquez
Velázquez, also Velazquez, Velásquez or Velasquez (, ), is a surname from Spain. It is a patronymic name, meaning "son of Velasco".
References to "Velazquez" without a first name are often to the Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez.
Notable peo ...
's previous work.
Death
Vinton died of a
bronchial affection in his home in Boston on May 20, 1911. After his death, Mrs. Frederic Porter Vinton released some of his paintings to assorted exhibits.
See also
*
Notes
Attribution:
*
References
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*
External links
Some paintings of his, hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts in BostonSome of his work, and the auction price they received (login needed)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinton, Frederic Porter
1846 births
1911 deaths
19th-century American painters
19th-century American male artists
American male painters
20th-century American painters
American portrait painters
Artists from Bangor, Maine
Boston School (painting)
20th-century American male artists