William Matthew Prior (May 16, 1806 – January 21, 1873) was an American folk artist known for his portraits, particularly of families and children.

Biography

The son of Captain William, a shipmaster, and Sarah Bryant Prior, William Matthew Prior was born in Bath, Maine, on May 16, 1806. Prior completed his first portrait in 1823, at the age of 17 after training under Charles Codman, another Maine-based painter. In 1840, Prior moved to East Boston, Massachusetts, from his native Bath with his in-laws, notably fellow painter Sturtevant J. Hamblin, to invigorate his career as an artist. The paintings of Prior and Hamblin, when unsigned, are so similar in style as to be indistinguishable, and are commonly attributed to the " Prior-Hamblin School". According to the 1852 directory of Boston, Prior lived at 36 Trenton Street in East Boston. He was a follower of the preacher William Miller, who prophesied that the end of the world was imminent.Schwartz, Sanford (May 9, 2013). "Making a Long-Gone World Alive". ''The New York Review of Books'' 60 (8): 53. Prior wrote two books about Miller's teachings, ''The King's Vesture'' (1862) and ''The Empyrean Canopy'' (1868). Prior died on January 21, 1873, and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts. About 1,500 portraits are attributed to Prior. His works are in many museums and institutions around the United States including the Harvard Art Museums,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, and the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

. Prior is the subject of an exhibition, ''Artist and Visionary: William Matthew Prior Revealed'', shown at the Fenimore Art Museum,

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...

(May 26 – December 31, 2012) and subsequently at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City (January 24 – May 26, 2013).

Works

File:'George Washington', reverse painting on glass by William Matthew Prior.JPG, ''George Washington'', c. 1860 File:Mrs. Nancy Lawson.jpg, ''Mrs. Nancy Lawson'', 1843 File:William Matthew Prior - Portrait of a Young Boy with Flounced Collar and Brown Suit Holding a Bow and Arrow.jpg, ''Portrait of a Young Boy with Flounced Collar and Brown Suit Holding a Bow and Arrow'' File:Boy with Toy Horse and Wagon A17418.jpg, ''Boy with Toy Horse and Wagon''

References

External links

at National Gallery of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Prior, William Matthew 1806 births 1873 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters American portrait painters Folk artists Artists from Maine Artists from Boston People from Bath, Maine People from East Boston, Boston