Francis Bicknell Carpenter
| Francis Bicknell Carpenter | |
|---|---|
Francis Bicknell Carpenter Daguerreotype
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| Born |
August 6, 1830 Homer, Cortland County, New York |
| Died | May 23, 1900 (aged 69) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Sanford Thayer |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | 1852 to 1896 Presidential portraits & other notables |
Francis Bicknell Carpenter (August 6, 1830 – May 23, 1900) was an American painter born in Homer, New York. Carpenter is best known for his painting First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, which is hanging in the United States Capitol. Carpenter resided with President Lincoln at the White House and in 1866 published his one volume memoir Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln. Carpenter was a descendant of the New England Rehoboth Carpenter Family.
Carpenter was born to Asaph Harmon and Almira Clark (1801-1885). He was one of nine children.
On January 6, 1853 Francis married Augusta Herrick Prentiss (1831-1926). Francis and Augusta had the following children:
In 1844, after showing his father a painting of his mother that the former viewed as a success, Carpenter was allowed to go to Syracuse, New York for six months to study under Sanford Thayer. In 1848, at age 18, he was awarded a purchase prize by the American Art-Union. By the age of twenty-one, Carpenter established a studio in New York City. Carpenter was elected to the National Academy of Design as an associate member in 1852.
In 1852, Carpenter was commissioned to paint a portrait of President Millard Fillmore, a fellow upstate New Yorker born in Cayuga County. Commissions followed for portraits of Presidents Franklin Pierce and John Tyler, and other mid-19th century notables, including the clergyman Henry Ward Beecher; newspaper editor Horace Greeley; Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University; James Russell Lowell, poet; and John C. Fremont, the first Republican presidential candidate.
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