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Portrait of a Woman in a Neo-Classical Setting
Henry Peters Gray (1819-1877)
American
American
Oil on canvas
34″ x 38″ framed
Condition: Lined, very minor areas of scattered in-painting. In the original carved gilt frame.
Henry Peters Gray was a leading portrait and history painter of the mid-19th century. His father, a wealthy merchant, encouraged his talent, sending him to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He later studied with Daniel Huntington beginning in 1838, and was soon accepted for exhibition at the National Academy of Design. Huntington and Gray then studied the Old Masters in Italy. When he returned to New York in 1841, Gray married artist Susan Clark and established himself as a portrait painter. Working between New York and Europe, he gained a distinguished reputation. He was elected a National Academician at the National Academy of Design, eventually becoming Vice President and then President, succeeding Huntington.
34″ x 38″ framed
Condition: Lined, very minor areas of scattered in-painting. In the original carved gilt frame.
Henry Peters Gray was a leading portrait and history painter of the mid-19th century. His father, a wealthy merchant, encouraged his talent, sending him to Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He later studied with Daniel Huntington beginning in 1838, and was soon accepted for exhibition at the National Academy of Design. Huntington and Gray then studied the Old Masters in Italy. When he returned to New York in 1841, Gray married artist Susan Clark and established himself as a portrait painter. Working between New York and Europe, he gained a distinguished reputation. He was elected a National Academician at the National Academy of Design, eventually becoming Vice President and then President, succeeding Huntington.
Gray’s subjects were often classical, emulating the old Venetian masters, especially Titian and Correggio. He was also part of the attempted movement by American artists to advance historical painting in pre-Civil War America, painting somewhat allegorical, of which his most iconic was Birth of Our Flag (1874). Henry Peters Gray died November 12, 1877 in New York.