biografía de Thomas Buchanan READ (1822-1872)

Lugar de nacimiento: near Guthriesville, Chester County, PA

Lugar de defunción: NYC

Profesión: Portrait & historical painter, illustrator, sculptor, poet

Exposiciones: PAFA Ann.,1847-66, 1876-78; NAD, 1841-59; Cincinnati, OH, 1864; Brooklyn AA, 1869

Obra: Cincinnati Art Mus.; PAFA; Peabody Inst., Baltimore, MD; Detroit Inst. Art; State Capitol, Trenton, NJ (Sheridan's Ride;" Read wrote a poem of the same title)"

Comentarios: Shortly after apprenticing with a tailor, c. 1835, Read left for Philadelphia, where he worked in several stores before taking off for Cincinnati in 1837. There he worked as a ship and sign painter and, for a short time, served as Shobal Clevenger's assistant. By 1840 he had gained enough recognition as a painter to win a commission for a portrait of William Henry Harrison. In 1841 Read moved to Boston, where he befriended Allston and Longfellow. In 1845 his first book of poems was published and from that point until his death he devoted himself to both his painting and poetry. In 1846 he moved to Philadelphia. In 1850 Read made the first of several trips to Europe where he spent much of his time during the next two decades. While there, he developed friendships with the English Pre-Raphaelites and with the American sculptors living in Italy. Read was back in the U.S. during the Civil War, working for the Union cause on the staff of General Lew Wallace (as a lecturer and propagandist). In 1865 he briefly established a studio in New Orleans to paint a portrait of General Philip H. Sheridan. He then returned to Italy and lived in Rome and Florence until shortly before his death in 1872. Read painted many portraits in his lifetime but was more famous for his historical and literary paintings; these reflected ideal and romantic themes under titles such as a A Painter's Dream" (Detroit Inst.) and "Hiawatha's Wooing." He was considered one of America's leading poets at the time of his death.

Fuentes: G&W; Keller, "Thomas Buchanan Read"; Pleasants, Four Great Artists of Chester County; Borneman, "Thomas Buchanan Read"; DAB; Swan, BA; Rutledge, PA; Cowdrey, NAD; Boston BD 1842-46; Phila. CD 1850; Rutledge, MHS; Cowdrey, AA & AAU. More recently, see Baigell, Dictionary; Peggy and Harold Samuels, 390-91; Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists; and Gerdts, Art Across America, vol. 1: 283; Cincinnati Painters of the Golden Age, 95-97 (w/illus.); Falk, Exh. Record Series.