Joseph Whiting Stock (January 30, 1815 – 1855) was an American painter known for his portraits, miniatures, and landscape paintings, many of which he did on commission. He was born on January 30, 1815, in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

. When Stock was eleven years old, an oxcart fell on him and he was

paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...

for the rest of his life. After this accident, he began to study painting under Franklin White, a pupil of the painter Chester Harding, on the advice of his physician, and was commissioned to do a series of anatomical drawings by Dr. James Swan in 1834. That year, Dr. Swan constructed a wheelchair that enabled Stock to paint large canvasses and be lifted on trains so as to travel for commissions. For the next two decades, Stock accepted commissions for portraits around New England, working in

Warren Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

and

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States, as well as the county seat. The population of Bristol was 22,493 at the 2020 census. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. Major industries include boat buil ...

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. At the 2020 census, New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-l ...

, and Middletown, Goshen, and

Port Jervis Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. His studios were located in his hometown of Springfield throughout this time. In 1855, Stock died of tuberculosis in Springfield. He was forty years old.Stock, Joseph Whiting, and Juliette Tomlinson. 1976. ''The Paintings and the Journal of Joseph Whiting Stock''. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press. Stock's paintings are sometimes confused with those of

Clarissa Peters Russell Clarissa Peters Russell (February 1, 1809 – August 12, 1854) was an American miniaturist. Her name is often given as Mrs. Moses B. Russell. A native of Andover, Massachusetts, Russell was one of twelve children; her younger sister, Sara Pete ...

, the miniaturist, as her style is similar to his but her work tends to be unsigned.

References

External links

Finding Aid for the Juliette Tomlinson Research Files on Joseph Whiting Stock
The Frick Collection/Frick Art Reference Library Archives.

* ttp://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/66.242.19 Metropolitan Museum portrait 1815 births 1855 deaths 19th-century American male artists 19th-century American painters 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis American artists with disabilities American folk artists American male painters American portrait painters Artists from Springfield, Massachusetts Painters from Massachusetts People with paraplegia Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts American wheelchair users {{US-painter-1810s-stub