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

. 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 neural ...

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 which 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 A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

and

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of B ...

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. Up throug ...

, and Middletown, Goshen, and

Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

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

. 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 Painters from Massachusetts Artists from Springfield, Massachusetts 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters People with paraplegia 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis American folk artists American portrait painters Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts American artists with disabilities Wheelchair users {{US-painter-1810s-stub