Edward Payson Washburn (1831 – March 26, 1860) was an American painter, son of Indian missionary

Cephas Washburn Cephas Washburn (July 25, 1793 – March 17, 1860) was a Christian missionary and educator who worked with the Cherokee of northwest Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. He later worked to establish churches in Arkansas. Early life and education Ceph ...

. He is best known for his 1856 work, ''The Arkansas Traveller''.

Biography

Edward Payson Washburn painted the image of the "Arkansas Traveler" from a story he heard from

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

Sandford C. Faulkner Sandford C. Faulkner (March 3, 1803August 4, 1874), better known as Sandy Faulkner, was an American planter, raconteur and fiddler who personified the mid- 19th century folk song " Arkansas Traveler," for which he received writing credit. It ha ...

. Supposedly occurring on the campaign trail in Arkansas in 1840, Colonel Faulkner's humorous story ends with a fiddle playing squatter being won over by the traveler (man on horse in image). The painting was later a basis of engravings by Leopold Grozelier of Boston in 1859, and

Currier and Ives Currier and Ives was a New York City printmaking business that operated between 1835 and 1907. Founded by Nathaniel Currier, the company designed and sold inexpensive, hand painted lithographic works based on news events, views of popular cult ...

of New York City about 1870, with a sample from the Arkansas Traveler tune. In addition to the painting and prints, the story of the Arkansas Traveler was also turned into a tune, dialogue and play. It was created just south of the town of Russellville, Arkansas, at the Washburn family

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

site. Washburn cemetery, near the old homestead, still exists today. The painting was widely distributed as a Currier & Ives lithograph. It was inspired by the composition of the same name by Colonel Sanford C. Faulkner (1806–1874). Washburn died in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, only nine days after his father, and is buried at

Mount Holly Cemetery Mount Holly Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Quapaw Quarter area of downtown Little Rock in the U.S. state of Arkansas, and is the burial place for numerous Arkansans of note. It was listed on the National Register of Historic ...

References

External links

* * 1831 births 1860 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters Artists from Arkansas {{US-painter-stub