[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A LADY.--[JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY.]] ART IN AMERICA A CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH BY S. G. W. BENJAMIN AUTHOR OF "CONTEMPORARY ART IN EUROPE" "WHAT IS ART" &c. _ILLUSTRATED_ [Illustration] NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS FRANKLIN SQUARE 1880 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ERRATUM. The cut on page 28, attributed to Rembrandt Peale, should be credited to John T. Peele. PREFACE. The aim of this book has been to give a historical outline of the growth of the arts in America. But while this has been the dominating idea in the mind of the writer, criticism has necessarily entered, more or less, into the preparation of the work, since only by weighing the differences or the comparative merits of those artists who seemed best to illustrate the various phases of American art has it been possible to trace its progress from one step to another. It is from no lack of appreciation of their talents that the author has apparently neglected mention of the American artists resident in foreign capitals--like Bridgman, Duveneck, Wight, Neal, Bacon, Benson, Ernest Parton, Millet, Whistler, Dana, Blashfield, Miss Gardner, Miss Conant, and many others who have done credit to American æsthetic culture. But it was necessary to draw the line somewhere; and to discuss what our artists are painting abroad would have at once enlarged the scope of the work beyond the limits of the plan adopted. An exception has been made in the case of our sculptors, because they have so uniformly lived and wrought in Europe, and so large a proportion of them are still resident there, that, were we to confine this branch of the subject only to the sculptors now actually in America, there would be little left to say about their department of our arts. The author takes this occasion cordially to thank the artists and amateurs who have kindly permitted copies of their paintings and drawings to be engraved for this volume. CONTENTS. PAGE I. EARLY AMERICAN ART 13 II. AMERICAN PAINTERS (1828-1878) 39 III. AMERICAN PAINTERS (1828-1878) 66 IV. AMERICAN PAINTERS (1828-1878) 97 V. SCULPTURE IN AMERICA 134 VI. PRESENT TENDENCIES OF AMERICAN ART 164 ILLUSTRATIONS. SUBJECT. ARTIST. PAGE. PORTRAIT OF A LADY _John Singleton Copley_ _Frontispiece_ FAMILY OF BISHOP BERKELEY _John Smybert_ 16 DEATH ON THE PALE HORSE _Benjamin West_ 19 DEATH OF MONTGOMERY _John Trumbull_ 23 GENERAL KNOX _Gilbert Stuart_ 25 "BEGGAR'S OPERA" _G. Stuart Newton_ 27 "BABES IN THE WOOD" _Rembrandt Peale_ 28