Thomas Prichard Rossiter (1818–1871) was an American artist 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 ...

. Known for his portraits and paintings of historical scenes, he later came to be associated with the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

of artists.

Life and career

Rossiter was born in

in 1818. He first studied painting with John Boyd, and later with

Nathaniel Jocelyn Nathaniel Jocelyn (January 31, 1796 – January 13, 1881) was an American painter and engraver best known for his portraits of abolitionists and of the slave revolt leader Joseph Cinqué. Family and education Nathaniel Jocelyn was born in New H ...

. In 1838, he exhibited two paintings at 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 f ...

; the following year he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and opened a studio. In 1840 he traveled in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

with

Asher B. Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eighth ...

John Kensett John Frederick Kensett (March 22, 1816 – December 14, 1872) was an American landscape painter and engraver born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of artists. Kensett's signature works ...

, and John William Casilear. While there, he visited

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...

, and decided to stay in Italy. In 1846, he returned to New York City and shared a studio with Kensett and

Louis Lang Louis Lang (29 February 1812 – 6 May 1893) was a German-American painter. Biography He was born as ''Joseph Aloysius Lang'' in Waldsee, Duchy of Württemberg. His father, a historical painter, wished him to become a musician, but his taste w ...

. In 1849, Rossiter was elected to the

National Academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with State (polity), state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but ...

. In 1851, he married Anna Ehrick Parmly. They toured Europe in 1853, settling in Paris where Anna gave birth to twins Ehrick Kensett and Charlotte. Rossiter kept a studio in Paris from 1853 to 1856, winning a gold medal at the

Universal Exposition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

of 1855 for his ''Venice in the Fifteenth Century''. Anna died shortly after the birth of their daughter Anna, and the family moved back to New York. For a brief period of time Rossiter had an art gallery, exhibiting his work and the work of his friends. In 1857, he began several large compositions depicting scenes from early American history, including ''Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon'', ''Washington and His First Cabinet'', and ''George Washington and Family''. As part of his research for the works, Rossiter visited

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

in June 1858, and soon afterward published an article on Washington's life and the state of his Mount Vernon estate. He wrote of his sadness to see the deteriorated state of the buildings and grounds, and urged the restoration of the mansion and furniture to the condition that Washington left them. In 1860, Rossiter married Mary (Mollie) Sterling and moved his family to

Cold Spring, New York Cold Spring is a village in the town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 1,986 at the 2020 census. It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville and the hamlets of Garrison and North Highlands. The cen ...

on the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. He designed a house, Fair Lawn, overlooking the

. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. He continued to paint portraits, historical, and religious paintings, and exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, until his death in 1871.

Works

Among his best-known paintings are: * ''Muses and Graces'' (1859),

New Britain Museum of American Art The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art. A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 200 ...

* ''Signing of the Constitution'' (ca 1860-1870), hosted at

Independence National Historical Park Independence National Historical Park is a federally protected historic district in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National P ...

* ''Jews in Captivity'' * ''The Wise and Foolish Virgins'' * ''The Home of Washington'' (1858), painted together with Mignot. * ''Washington's First Cabinet'' * ''The Last Hours of

Tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

'' * ''Spilt Milk''

References

Sources

External links

* Painting
''Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon'', 1784 (The Home of Washington after the War)
Metropolitan Museum of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Rossiter, Thomas Prichard 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters Painters from Connecticut 1818 births 1871 deaths Artists from New Haven, Connecticut Painters from New York (state) National Academy of Design members Hudson River School painters