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William R. Hamilton was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1795
and studied painting in Paris and in London where he was a student
of Sir David Wilkie. He was in the employment of the Duke of
Hamilton in Scotland until he immigrated to New York in 1832.
A fellow Scotsman, Alexander Masterton, may have been responsible
for bringing him to this country. Masterton was a very successful
contractor and quarry owner. Hamilton lived with the Masterton
family in the 1830's and 40's on Broome Street in Manhattan and
in Bronxville, NY while maintaining a studio on Canal Street
in Manhattan. During this period he painted individual portraits
of the Masterton family, as well as a group portrait of them
in 1834 that is now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Hamilton was an immediate success in New York, exhibiting
at the National Academy of Design from 1833 until 1841 and at
the American Art Union in 1839. Although he also painted landscapes,
he was primarily a portraitist. He had numerous portrait commissions
from wealthy New York families. Three of his paintings are now
in the New York Historical Society.
Although Hamilton returned to Scotland at least five times,
he died in Cornwall-on Hudson, New York in 1879.
Here the subject is a boy of about thirteen or fourteen who
is already an accomplished artist, judging by the scene of a
waterfall beneath his brush. Although the painting is signed
and dated, 1855, the identity of the sitter remains elusive.
While it is tempting to speculate that he is a grandchild of
Alexander Masterton, he could well be a member of another wealthy
New York family. |
