Alfred James Wiggin or A. J. Wiggin (1823–1883) was an
American art
Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...
ist active in
Massachusetts, known mainly for his painted
portraits and
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
s. He lived in
Gloucester and
Boston.
Work
Examples of his work are in the collections of the
Cape Ann Museum;
;
[Smithsonian. National Portrait Gallery]
Catalog of American Portraits
Retrieved 2011-12-13 Lafayette College;
[Smithsonian]
Art Inventories Catalog
Retrieved 2011-12-13 the
Peabody Essex Museum;
and the Sandy Bay Historical Society.
Wiggin worked as a commissioned artist, providing artistic services to clients across Massachusetts. As a result, he produced many portraits – the exact number of which is undetermined. He also produced landscapes on commission, such as an 1859 oil color of a house in nearby
Annisquam for a homesick sea captain.
[ Historic New England. ]
Wiggin produced portraits of several significant American figures of the mid 19th century. He painted
Zachary Taylor in July 1851, a year after the president's death. In 1869, he produced a portrait of General
Benjamin Butler, who was then a member of the
House of Representatives for Wiggin's local district.
Gallery
Eliza Dennison Wiggin and Child, by Alfred J. Wiggin, 1836, oil on canvas - Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, MA - DSC01037.jpg, Eliza Dennison Wiggin and Child, 1836, oil on canvas - Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, MA
General Benjamin Butler by Alfred J. Wiggin, 1869, oil on canvas - Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, MA - DSC01301.jpg, General Benjamin Butler, 1869, oil on canvas - Cape Ann Museum - Gloucester, MA
References
Further reading
* Janet Dwyer. ''The Portraits and Landscapes of Alfred J. Wiggin, 1823–1883''. Gloucester, Mass.: Cape Ann Historical Assoc., 1980.
External links
* GenForum
Wiggin
1823 births
1883 deaths
19th-century American painters
American male painters
American portrait painters
Painters from Boston
People from Gloucester, Massachusetts
19th-century American male artists
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