Mather Brown facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mather Brown
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Self-portrait, 1812
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| Born | Baptized 11 October 1761 |
| Died | 25 May 1831 (aged 69) London, England
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| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Portrait and historical painter |
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Mather Brown (born October 11, 1761 – died May 25, 1831) was an American painter. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but spent most of his career painting in England.
Contents
Early Life and Art Training
Mather Brown was the son of Gawen and Elizabeth Brown. His family had a famous ancestor, Reverend Increase Mather. Mather Brown was taught by his aunt when he was young. Around 1773, when he was about 12 years old, he became a student of the well-known painter Gilbert Stuart.
In 1781, Mather Brown traveled to London, England, to continue his art education. He studied in the studio of Benjamin West, another famous painter. The next year, in 1782, he joined the Royal Academy schools. He originally planned to paint small pictures called miniatures. He started showing his paintings in exhibitions just one year later.
Painting Famous People
In 1784, Mather Brown painted two religious pictures for a church in London. This led him to team up with another painter, Daniel Orme. They worked together to show and sell copies of their paintings. Brown also created large paintings about English history and scenes from Shakespeare's plays.
Even with this success, he decided to focus on painting portraits of people. His first successful portraits were of Americans. One important painting was of John Adams and his family in 1784–85. John Adams later became the second president of the United States. This painting is now in the Boston Athenæum.
In 1786, Brown painted the earliest known portrait of Thomas Jefferson, who was visiting London. Thomas Jefferson later became the third president of the United States. He also painted Charles Bulfinch, a famous American architect, that same year. In 1798, Mather Brown was honored by being chosen as a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
One of his most important paintings was a full-length portrait of Prince Frederick Augustus in 1788. This painting showed the Prince in his military uniform. Because of this portrait, Mather Brown was named the official History and Portrait Painter to the Prince. He also painted other important people, including the Prince of Wales (who later became King George IV), Queen Charlotte, and Lord Cornwallis. Mather Brown also painted a self-portrait (a picture of himself), which is now kept in the American Antiquarian Society.
Later Life and Challenges
After the mid-1790s, Mather Brown started to lose his customers. He also tried to become a member of the Royal Academy but was not chosen. Because of these challenges, he left London in 1808. He moved to cities like Bath, Bristol, and Liverpool.
He eventually settled in Manchester. Almost twenty years later, in 1824, he returned to London. Even after his teacher Benjamin West had passed away, Brown continued to paint in a similar style. However, he found it hard to get new painting jobs. Mather Brown sadly died in London in 1831, living in poverty.
Images for kids
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1763 portrait by John Singleton Copley of Elizabeth Byles Brown, Mather Brown's mother
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Portrait of the amazing musician and fencer Chevalier de Saint-Georges in 1787
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Portrait of John Adams in 1785
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Portrait of Thomas Jefferson while in London in 1786
