|
|
Ad Code: 3
|
from Auction House Records.
Rosy-cheeked young girl wearing a lace-trimed white dress
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
|
|
|
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Painter Sturtevant Hamblen's birth and death dates are unknown, as is the place of his birth, but he is believed to have been active from around 1823 to 1856. Much of this evidence is circumstantial, based on known facts of other family members.
Hamblen was a portrait painter in the primitive style who worked in Maine, if the activities of his sister, Rosamond, and his three brothers are any indication. She was from Bath, Maine at the time of her marriage in 1828 to another portrait painter, William Matthew Prior. Hamblen's three artist-craftsmen brothers, Joseph, Eli and Nathaniel, are said to have worked from 1823 until 1839 in Portland, Maine, but they may not have moved there until sometime between 1831 and 1834. Prior evidently moved there as well, because records indicate he was living with Nathaniel in Portland in 1834, as Sturtevant and Joseph were living with him in that city in 1836.
The Hamblens and Prior worked together as "house, sign and fancy painters," according to records. However, Sturtevant Hamblen remains a shadowy figure even in his artwork. Since his style was quite similar to Prior's, not many of Hamblen's portraits can be identified with certainty.
To further complicate matters, Sturtevant Hamblen may have followed the same practice as his brother-in-law, Prior, who painted his portraits in two styles: a less expensive two-dimensional style, and a pricier, thoroughly developed and modeled three-dimensional style. And both artists were the first to paint background ships and telescopes in their portraits of sea captains.
Source:
Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art"
Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|