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Junius Brutus Stearns (born Lucius Sawyer Stearns, June 2, 1810September 17, 1885) was an American painter best known for his five-part ''Washington Series'' (1847–1856).
He was member of the
Stearns is most famous for his series on
/ref> In the painting Stearns, for reasons that remain unclear, depicts Samuel Lennardson (Duston's fellow captive) as a woman. The six Indian children Duston killed are omitted. A second painting, showing Hannah's husband fleeing with her children, is now lost.Lauren Lessing, "Theatrical Mayhem in Junius Brutus Stearns's Hannah Duston Killing the Indians," ''American Art,'' Volume 28, Issue 3, pp. 76-103
/ref>
at ArtCyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns, Junius Brutus 19th-century American painters American male painters 1810 births 1885 deaths People from Arlington, Vermont Painters from Vermont Road incident deaths in New York City Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States Burials at Cypress Hills Cemetery 19th-century American male artists
Junius Brutus Stearns (born Lucius Sawyer Stearns, June 2, 1810September 17, 1885) was an American painter best known for his five-part ''Washington Series'' (1847–1856).
He was member of the National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
for several decades and member of its council.
He was born Lucius Sawyer Stearns in Arlington, Vermont
Arlington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,457 at the 2020 census.
History
The town of Arlington was chartered July 28, 1761, by New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth, as part of the New Hampshire ...
. He named two sons after him, one Lucius Stearns, and the other Junius Brutus Stearns, Jr. Stearns, Jr., served in the Civil War in the 44th Regiment. JB Stearns served in the Civil War as well, New York's 12th Regiment. He also had two other sons, Raphael and Michaelangelo, and a daughter, Edith Sylvia.
His painting ''The Millennium'' was submitted as credentials for his admission as a member of the National Academy of Design.
Death
He died September 17, 1885, inBrooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York, in a horse-and-carriage accident after returning from a night at the theatre. He was interred at Cypress Hills Cemetery
Cypress Hills Cemetery is non-sectarian/non-denominational cemetery corporation organized in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, the first of its type in the city. The cemetery is run as a non-profit organization and is loca ...
in Brooklyn.
Paintings
Stearns is most famous for his series on George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
. Of these his painting, ''Washington as a Statesman'', depicts President Washington addressing the Constitutional Convention; it is the subject of a US Postage Stamp in 1937.
Stearns also painted a second series of Washington in which he depicted free blacks. Not as much is known about this series or the intentions of the artist in so portraying blacks on the eve of the Civil War, although there was supposition by Mack, et al.
Stearns' painting, ''Hannah Duston Killing the Indians'' (1847) depicts the killing by Hannah Duston
Hannah Duston (also spelled Dustin, Dustan, or Durstan) (born Hannah Emerson, December 23, 1657 – March 6, 1736,
of Indians who had captured her and murdered her newborn daughter in 1697.Barbara Cutter, "The Female Indian Killer Memorialized: Hannah Duston and the Nineteenth–Century Feminization of American Violence," ''Journal of Women's History,'' vol. 20, no. 2, 2008; pp 10–33/ref> In the painting Stearns, for reasons that remain unclear, depicts Samuel Lennardson (Duston's fellow captive) as a woman. The six Indian children Duston killed are omitted. A second painting, showing Hannah's husband fleeing with her children, is now lost.
/ref>
References
External links
at ArtCyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns, Junius Brutus 19th-century American painters American male painters 1810 births 1885 deaths People from Arlington, Vermont Painters from Vermont Road incident deaths in New York City Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States Burials at Cypress Hills Cemetery 19th-century American male artists