Samuel Stillman Osgood (June 9, 1808 – 1885) was a 19th-century American

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

painter.

Biography

Osgood was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, to James Osgood and Elizabeth Badger. He studied painting in Boston, Massachusetts. After his marriage to poet Frances Sargent Locke, he continued his art education at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

in London. Upon returning to America, he settled in New York City, where he was made an associate of the National Academy of Design. In 1849, he went to California where he stayed nearly a year,

prospecting Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting reli ...

for gold and painting portraits in San Francisco. His wife died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in 1850. Osgood designed her memorial at

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, where she was buried. Inspired by her poem "The Hand That Swept the Sounding Lyre", Osgood designed a 15-foot memorial: a white marble base topped by a bronze

lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...

crowned by a laurel wreath. Four of the five strings of the lyre were designed as cut (symbolizing his wife and three daughters, who were all dead by 1851). On his death, he asked his second wife to cut the fifth string.Linden, Blanche M. G. ''Silent City on a Hill: Picturesque Landscapes of Memory and Boston's Mount Auburn Cemetery''. Amherst, MA:

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

, 2007: 197. His portrait sitters included

Frances Sargent Osgood Frances Sargent Osgood (née Locke; June 18, 1811 – May 12, 1850) was an American poet and one of the most popular women writers during her time.Silverman, 281 Nicknamed "Fanny", she was also famous for her exchange of romantic poems with Edgar ...

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

Davy Crockett David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Re ...

John Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant of Mexican and American citizenship, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area th ...

Henry Clay Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...

Alice Cary Alice Cary (April 26, 1820February 12, 1871) was an American poet, and the older sister of fellow poet Phoebe Cary (1824–1871). Biography Alice Cary was born on April 26, 1820, in Mount Healthy, Ohio, off the Miami River near Cincinnati. He ...

Mary Boykin Chesnut Mary Boykin Chesnut (née Miller) (March 31, 1823 – November 22, 1886) was an American author noted for a book published as her Civil War diary, a "vivid picture of a society in the throes of its life-and-death struggle."Woodward, C. Vann. "In ...

Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet * Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor * Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...

, Mary E. Hewitt and Caroline E. S. Norton.

Gallery

File:Samuel Stillman Osgood - Rodman McCamley Price - NPG.98.23 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg,

Rodman McCamley Price Rodman McCamley Price (May 5, 1816June 7, 1894) was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives for one term from 1851–1853. He later served as the 17th governor of New Jers ...

File:Edgar Allan Poe by Samuel S Osgood, 1845.png, Edgar Allan Poe File:Samuel Stillman Osgood - Epes Sargent (1813-1880) - H562 - Harvard Art Museums.jpg, Epes Sargent File:Samuel Stillman Osgood - Robert Troup Paine (1829-1851) - H116 - Harvard Art Museums.jpg, Robert Troupe Paine

References

External links

Samuel Stillman Osgood at AskArt.com
19th-century American painters 19th-century male artists American male painters 1808 births 1885 deaths Davy Crockett Artists from New Haven, Connecticut Painters from Connecticut {{US-painter-1800s-stub

Biography

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links