John Brewster Jr.

John Brewster Jr. (May 30 or May 31, 1766 – August 13, 1854)[1] was a prolific, Deaf itinerant painter who produced many charming portraits of well-off New England families, especially their children.

[3] A kindly minister taught him to paint, and by the 1790s he was traveling through Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and eastern New York State,[2] taking advantage of his family connections to offer his services to the wealthy merchant class.

As an itinerant portraitist working in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the United States, he would travel great distances, often staying in unfamiliar places for months at a time.

[3] By about 1805, Brewster had his own style of portraying children in full length, with skimpy garments or nightclothes, soft, downy hair and big, cute eyes for a sweet, appealing affect.

He also moved away from the large-format Grand Manner-influenced style and turned to smaller, more intimate portraits in which he focused more attention on the faces of his subjects.

The surrounding landscape is "strangely low and wildly out of scale—the young boy towers over trees and dwarfs distant mountains.

In this work—particularly Francis’ white dress and the peaceful landscape he inhabits—modern viewers often feel a palpable sense of the silence that was Brewster's world.

"[3] From 1817 to 1820, Brewster interrupted his career to learn sign language at the newly opened Connecticut Asylum in Hartford, now known as the American School for the Deaf.

Brewster "created hauntingly beautiful images of American life during the formative period of the nation," according to a page at the Fenimore Art Museum website devoted to a 2005–2006 exhibition of the artist's work.

The Fenimore website also says, "His extant portraits show his ability to produce delicate and sensitive likenesses in full-size or miniature, and in oil on canvas or ivory.

According to the anonymous writer of the Florence Griswold Museum's web page about the same exhibit, "Brewster’s Deafness may also have shaped his mature portrait style, which centers on his emphasis on the face of his sitters, particularly the gaze.

Brewster combined a muted palette that highlights flesh tones with excellent draftsmanship to draw attention to the eyes of his sitters.

Brewster's father, Dr. John Brewster Sr., and his stepmother, Ruth Avery Brewster, c. 1795–1800
Unidentified Boy with Book (1810) by John Brewster, Jr. (from the collection of the Florence Griswold Museum , Old Lyme, Connecticut )
James Prince and Son, William Henry (1801) by John Brewster, Jr. Prince was a wealthy merchant from Newburyport , a shipping center in Massachusetts . The painter included numerous expensive luxuries to show Prince as wealthy and a gentleman: Curtains and a fine floor indicated wealth; the bookcase with books and the desk suggest learning. The boy is symbolized as entering world of adults by his holding a letter. (from the collection of the Historical Society of Old Newbury)
Mother with Son (Lucy Knapp Mygatt and Son, George, of Danbury, Connecticut ), 1799
Francis O. Watts with Bird (1805) by John Brewster, Jr. (from the collection of the Fenimore Art Museum , Cooperstown, New York )
Moses Quinby (c. 1810–1815). Quinby was a successful lawyer from Stroudwater, Maine . He was probably painted when Brewster was traveling in Maine .
Reverend Daniel Marrett (1831). An example of a Brewster portrait from his late career, many of which show great depth and strength of characterization. Marrett's furrowed brow and chisled features convey the seriousness of his convictions. The paper he holds quotes Amos 4:12, "Prepare to meet thy God." (from the collection of Historic New England /SPNEA)
Unidentified Woman in a Landscape (c. 1805) (from the collection of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York)
Comfort Starr Mygatt and His Daughter Lucy , 1799