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About Waldo & Jewett
An early and very successful American portrait painter, he was born in Windham, Connecticut into an established Yankee family who recognized and encouraged their son's obvious talent.
He was sent at the age of sixteen to study art in Hartford with Joseph Steward, a retired minister who did painting. Waldo did some sign painting and then opened a portrait studio in Hartford. He met John Rutledge of South Carolina who invited him to go there to paint commission portraits, and he was so successful that the profits financed three years of study in England with Benjamin West and John Singleton Copley. Under West, he got much exposure to other American artists and to those especially skilled who were members of the Royal Academy.
In 1809, he settled in New York and continuing to be inspired by West, worked hard to encourage and nurture the American Academy of Fine Arts. He also exhibited with the South Carolina Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design. Many of his portrait subjects were prominent New Yorkers from the emerging wealthy merchant class.
From 1820 to 1854, he worked with an apprentice, William Jewett, in a highly successful portrait painting partnership until Jewitt's retirement. It is thought that Waldo did the overall design and executed the head and hands. He also did individual portraits, considered superior to the joint portraits. |
Paintings by Waldo & Jewett
| Portrait of a Woman |
| oil on canvas:33 x 25 1/2 inches |
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signed:reverse |
| circa: 1831 |
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